By ROBERT FOLKER and ROB HULL
More than 100,000 motorists have been left unable to drive their cars after an urgent warning over a potential lethal fault with airbags.
Drivers of the popular Citroen C3 and the related DS3 - built from 2009 and 2016 - have been told not to use their cars until they are fixed.
The 'stop-drive' instruction from car giant Stellantis came last month after concerns had been raised over the safety of airbags fitted to these models following a fatal accident in France just weeks prior.
Stellantis said it was 'inevitable' that customers would be inconvenienced, as a number of owners have told the BBC they should expect long waits to get their cars fixed.
While dozens of motorists have complained about poor communication and mixed messages from Citroen and DS dealerships, UK drivers say they have been left stranded.
The affected models already had a recall notice issued for the known fault before the deadly crash in Reims last month, though France's Transport Minister criticised Stellantis' reaction to the problem for 'not matching the scale of the risk', dubbing it 'unacceptable and scandalous'.
Stellantis has told affected UK owners of the second-generation Citroen C3 (pictured) and Mk1 DS3 hot hatches produced between 2009 and 2019 to immediately stop using their cars, after a woman in France was killed by the faulty Takata airbag in her vehicle
The recall order relates to all second-generation Citroen C3s, which were manufactured between 2009 and 2016
Stellantis said it was 'inevitable' that customers would be inconvenienced, as a number of owners say they should expect long waits to get their cars fixed.
Lisa Shackleton, a 69-year-old from Hull, owns a 2014 Citroen DS3 and says she needs her car to take her elderly husband to specialist medical appointments.
She has also booked a holiday in a cottage three hours away to be close to her daughter, who is undergoing chemotherapy.
'I've tried to get the car fixed, but as I didn't get to know about the recall soon enough, the earliest it can be done is the end of July,' she said.
'It's booked in at a dealership in York, and that's an hour's drive away.'
Another motorist claimed that she was not able to book a repair until January next year.
It is believed that 120,000 vehicles are impacted by the 'stop drive' notice issued by the UK arm of the manufacturer on Friday 20 June.
Stellantis said it was 'working to maximise' the number of vehicles it could repair each day, with priority given to those with urgent needs.
However it said it had no plans to provide compensation, adding it had 'mobilised the whole company' to source replacement airbags.
A spokesperson said: 'It is inevitable, with such a large number of vehicles affected, that customers will be inconvenienced in the short term.'
The company added it was 'investigating options of airbag replacement at other sites, in addition to our Citroen network, including at [the owner's] home'.
The first-generation Citroen-branded DS3 - produced between 2009 and 2016 - is also impacted, with owners who have yet to action the airbag recall notice told to stop driving their vehicles
The Takata airbag recall is by far the world's biggest vehicle call back of all time, as well as the largest scale safety recall the automotive sector has ever seen
According to Radio France Internationale (RFI), a 37-year-old woman died after the airbag in her 2014 Citroen C3 exploded when the car scraped a motorway barrier in Remins after she had taken evasive action to try to avoid a lorry.
Metal fragments from the exploding airbag struck her in the face. A teenage passenger was also injured, according to the report.
Stellantis said it had sent the woman a registered letter on 20 May warning her about the airbag, but the address was incorrect, and the letter was returned.
It is believed to be the second fatal incident recorded in France linked to the deadly airbags.
Following the incident, French officials increased pressure on Stellantis to remove remaining affected models from the road, with around 30 per cent of C3s and DS3s in the country believed to still have the defective devices in place.
French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot had called for all C3 and DS3 models with Takata airbags to be pulled off the road in the country with immediate effect shortly after the fatal incident, which took place on 11 June.
Some 70 per cent of these cars registered in France are yet to have the faulty airbags replaced, with Citroen finding it difficult to contact some owners.
Stellantis UK told This is Money last month that it is of 'paramount importance' that owners of Citroen C3s and DS3 in Britain who may have changed either their address or contact details update this information with the DVLA to ensure the car maker can make contact to have their cars rectified as soon as possible.
The order relates to all second-generation Citroen C3s, which were manufactured between 2009 and 2016, first-generation Citroen DS3s produced between 2009 and 2016, and DS3s later sold under the DS Automobiles brand - simply called DS3 - up to 2019.
The Takata airbag recall is by far the world's biggest vehicle call back of all time, as well as the largest scale safety recall the automotive sector has ever seen.
Potential faults were first raised in 2006, when Takata officials said some of its airbag inflators expanded with too much force, sending metal shrapnel into cars, posing massive risk to the health of the driver and occupants.
More than 100 million cars sold by a variety of brands were affected globally. Cars dating as far back to the mid-1990s were fitted with the faulty airbags.
Owners can check whether their motor has the outstanding airbag recall notice in place. They can do so by entering the vehicle identification number (VIN) on the recall page of the Citroen UK website. The VIN can be found on the V5 registration document for the car.
Owners of Citroens with an outstanding recall alert must register their vehicle for a repair as soon as possible either online or by calling the company's recall helpline on 0800 917 9285, or by phoning Citroen customer care on 0800 093 9393.