By ROB HULL
Hundreds of Citroen cars fitted with potentially lethal airbags have been advertised for sale on major websites without mention of an urgent 'stop-drive' order issued by the French maker, it has been revealed.
Motorists who purchase these cars are not only at risk of driving away in a dangerous motor but could also invalidate their insurance due to there being an active - high-profile - recall notice in place.
Stellantis - the parent group of Citroen - on Friday 20 June issued a stop-driving action in the UK for C3 and DS3 models produced between 2009 and 2019 fitted with Takata airbags. The warning to owners was pushed out across Europe days after an airbag in a C3 caused fatal injuries to a driver in France.
A recall notice had already been issued to replace the airbags in these vehicles before the action was scaled up to a stop-drive warning last month but there are around 100,000 in Britain that are yet to be fixed.
Which? has checked vehicles for sale on major platforms and found hundreds of these cars still being advertised despite the outstanding recall notice for the defective airbags - but there is no mention of this in the ads.
Having raised the issue with Auto Trader – the nation’s biggest used car sellers and one of the online platforms listing these motors – it has since included the recall information on all affected Citroen and DS models.
Hundreds of Citroen cars fitted with potentially lethal airbags have been advertised for sale on major websites without mention of an urgent 'stop-drive' order issued by the French maker, it has been revealed
Even when Which? contacted car dealers directly to ask about the recall status of models listed for sale, all but one said the car had no outstanding recalls associated with them.
Additionally, it found that vehicle history check reports provided by the car listing sites were also not adequately informing potential buyers of the stop-drive order; one said the car had the 'all clear' while another categorised the recall as 'minor' and suggested it only impacted vehicles in the EU.
The stop-drive 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.
There are reportedly 441,000 examples of these cars in Europe with their original Takata airbags in situ.
Stellantis - the parent group of Citroen - on Friday 20 June issued a stop-driving action in the UK for C3 and DS3 models produced between 2009 and 2019 fitted with Takata airbags
Following last month's urgent stop-drive instruction from Citroen, Which? began looking for models listed for sale online.
In a 'snapshot investigation’, it identified 16 Citroen C3 listings on Autotrader.co.uk (of a total of around 330), filtered on models with registration dates of between 2009 and 2016 and being sold by trade dealers.
Three quarters of these (12 out of the 16) had the outstanding recall notice for the airbag defect, though none made reference to this anywhere in the vehicle's description in the advert.
The 12 dealers selling these motors were contacted regarding the recall status of the vehicles listed, though just seven responded - and only one was upfront about the car's stop-drive action.
Having informed AutoTrader of the issue, it has added warnings to all Citroen C3s listed on its website.
A spokesperson said: ‘It’s important to us to maintain a trusted and transparent marketplace, so once we were made aware of the serious nature of this specific product recall, we took swift action.
‘We have added information about the recall on our relevant product pages, and within our Security Advice Centre so consumers are aware of the current issue.
‘We have also communicated the information Citroen had shared with its customers to our retailer customers and to consumers who were selling a potentially affected vehicle, so they in turn could take appropriate action.’
Which? also checked another marketplace, Carwow, and found cars subject to a recall that weren’t being advertised as such. When it contacted three dealers on the platform, none replied to messages requesting recall information.
Carwow was contacted but failed to respond – and has not displayed any warnings on its website.
Consumer watchdog Which? found hundreds of these Citroen models being sold online without any warning that they have a stop-drive order on them. Since raising the issue with AutoTrader. it has taken action
The stop-drive order relates to all second-generation Citroen C3s, which were manufactured between 2009 and 2016 (pictured)
The first-generation Citroen DS3 produced between 2009 and 2016 - and DS3s later sold under the DS Automobiles brand up to 2019 - are also impacted by the stop-drive order
Michael Passingham, Which? Cars expert said: ‘It's shocking that we found hundreds of cars with this potentially deadly airbag fault still available for sale online when a stop-drive notice - which means you should not drive the car until it has been fixed - has been put in place.
‘It’s good to see that, following our investigation, AutoTrader, despite not creating these listings themselves, has put this critical information upfront, and we hope to see other platforms and dealerships also take this initiative, so that potential buyers are not misled into buying a dangerous vehicle that they cannot legally drive in the UK.’
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.
With approximately 100,000 or more cars impacted by the recall in the UK, Citroen is already struggling to cope under the intense demand of drivers unable to use their cars and wanting to have them fixed as early as possible to get back on the road.
Stellantis recently told the BBC it is 'inevitable' that customers would be inconvenienced, as several owners detailed the long wait times to get their cars repaired.
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.
Ruby Howards, a Citroen DS3 owner, told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours show that she has also experienced difficulties booking a slot with a dealer to have the recall carried out.
She first became aware of the recall on her car when she stumbled across a story on Google News on 21 June. She says she only received her letter this week, dated 30 June.
She said she spent days calling around several different dealers before securing a slot to have the airbag replaced on 22 July. She described dealers as being ‘really flustered’ and felt ‘quite sorry for them’ due to the sheer volume of calls they were receiving from disgruntled owners.
‘We’re a one car household, so we needed to get it sorted, but it was just a case of ringing and ringing,’ she said.
‘They do have a helpline, so I rang Citroen and was on hold for three hours – and I’m still waiting on them to call me back.’
Stellantis told You and Yours that it ‘acknowledges that its dedicated recall helpline customer care team and dealers have been overwhelmed’.
A spokesperson from the car giant told us that 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'.
Potential faults with Takata were first raised in 2006 and the first recall initiated in 2014
A mechanic holds an airbag module made by the Japanese airbag manufacturer Takata
The Takata airbag scandal 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
What is the Takata airbag scandal?
Estimates suggest there are anywhere between 100,000 and 120,000 impacted vehicles in the UK, with owners reporting that they have been unable to drive their cars or even book them in for the free replacement of the Takata airbags.
Potential faults with Takata were first raised in 2006 and the first recall initiated in 2014.
It 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.
Approximately 100 million cars sold by a variety of brands – including BMW, Honda and Jaguar Land Rover - were affected globally.
Hugo Griffiths, a motoring expert who covered the scandal since it first emerged, told BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours show this week: ‘So very briefly, how airbags work, is there a metal tube that is filled with explosive, when a collision is detected an electronic signal goes to that explosive which shoots out the end of the metal tube and the gases inflate the airbags. And it works 99.9 per cent of the time perfectly.
‘Takata used an explosive called ammonium nitrate.
‘Believe it or not, it is the same stuff Timothy McVeigh used in the Oklahoma City bomb.
‘Nobody else had used that before in airbags and it was used in tablet form but if moisture gets in the tablet degrades into powder.
‘If that happens, you get an unstable, uncontrolled explosion, and if that happens than rather than shooting out the end of the metal tube and inflating the airbag, the metal tube itself can explode basically sending shrapnel into people’s necks, faces or torsos.
‘It is very very rare I should add, but it’s also very very nasty if it does happen.’
A woman in Reims was killed in June when her airbag deployed and sent metal shrapnel into her face. It is the second recorded death in France linked to the Takata scandal
The stop-drive order was issued across Europe by Citroen’s parent group, Stellantis, last month after a 37-year-old woman died after the airbag in her 2014 Citroen C3 exploded when the car scraped a motorway barrier in Reims 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.
Car buyers who purchase a Citroen C3 with the outstanding airbag recall can be protected by general product safety laws... but those who buy from a private seller don't get that benefit
Any motor dealer selling a car that has an outstanding safety recall is likely in breach of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (GPSR).
This is based on an interpretation by the DVSA that states that ‘a product with an outstanding safety recall should not be passed to a consumer’.
It also says that the law does not distinguish between new and used products; so, businesses selling used cars are equally responsible as those who sell new models.
Earlier this month, a car dealer in Luton was fined £14,000 for not informing customers about safety recalls over several years.
While the dealers Which? contacted didn’t provide correct information, the watchdog points out that it did not proceed through the buying process, so checks further down the line may have identified the issue - especially as this is a high-profile stop-driving order.
While GPSR likely covers anyone who purchases one of these cars from a dealer, there is no legal protection for those who buy from private sellers.
In this instance, the new keeper is solely responsible for checking if an outstanding recall notice is in place for their vehicle – not the vendor.
Failing to check if there is an outstanding recall can land new owners in hot water. For instance, if a fault linked to a safety recall causes a crash, the driver’s insurance policy could be invalidated.
BBC consumer champion Matt Allwright told Morning Live in March that ‘particularly if it is a serious safety defect and it results in someone being injured or worse, then it could be on you.’
He added: ‘If it turns out that you didn’t take the car in for a recall when you were made aware of it, then your insurance company could say you weren’t entirely doing your due diligence on that car to make sure you knew everything about that car.’
The DVSA also points out that if police find you at the wheel of a car with a major safety recall, you can be ‘fined up to £2,500, be banned from driving and get three penalty points for driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition.
The Association of British Insurers says: ‘You should always let your insurer know if your car has been recalled and follow the guidance that it gives you.’
With Citroen owners raising concern about extended delays to get their cars fixed – and being unable to drive them in the meantime – lawyers are already circling with the suggestion they could be entitled to compensation and replacement hire vehicles.
Group litigation specialists Bond Turner says drivers could be severely inconvenienced by the sudden stop-drive instructions and claim the manufacturers have failed to act reasonably despite knowing of issues with the now defunct airbag manufacturer Takata for years.
Group claim expert Rachael Wong said: ‘At the very least the manufacturers involved need to compensate owners for the inconvenience and out of pocket expenses incurred as a result of being restricted from using their cars.
‘We have been approached by drivers who have been told their insurance is no longer valid to drive their vehicles – and they could even be unable to drive the car to their dealership to get a repair. Or, alternatively, are being charged by the dealer to collect the car.
‘Others have said they have been told by the garage that there is shortage of the replacement airbags and so garages are not able to offer a reasonable timeframe for the recall to be dealt with.
‘It is simply unacceptable that the manufacturers of vehicles that contain these airbags have known about these problems for a number of years but have failed to replace them or arrange non-urgent recalls in the UK before now.’
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