Citroën Airbag Recall Claims

Stellantis, the parent company of Citroen, has issued a ‘stop drive’ recall on approximately 120,000 vehicles so far. This is because those vehicles are potentially dangerous, due to faulty airbags that have been fitted in these vehicles.

The ‘Stop-Drive’ nature of the recall means just that – That owners should not drive their vehicle until the faulty airbag has been replaced. If you do drive it, you could be doing so illegally, and in any event, will likely be doing so without insurance (because most policies will not cover the vehicle on the road while this type of recall is in place).

With 120,000 people wanting their cars repair all at once, there are significant waiting lists for appointments at approved repair garages. It also appears that there is limited supply of the replacement parts available.

As a result, sadly, many people are being left without the use of their vehicle for prolonged periods of time (over 6 months in some instances we have been told about).

These airbags use a chemical called ammonium nitrate as the “accelerant” that is used to inflate the airbag when it is triggered to deploy. This chemical has been found to become unstable over time and can result in it burning at significantly higher rate than was intended, causing the mechanism within the airbag to explode excessively when triggered (even, in extreme cases to explode spontaneously). This excessive explosion has led to the housing to disintegrate and send shrapnel flying thought the vehicle interior, and causing potentially fatal harm to the driver and passengers of the vehicle.

We believe that people who – through no fault of their own – no longer have the use of their car should be properly compensated by Citroën for their reasonable losses and out of pocket expenses. This will depend on each individual’s circumstances, but might include the costs of using taxis or public transport, or hiring a temporary replacement vehicle.

Not having a car, may mean that you cannot do your job, leading to a loss of earnings. You will have paid for tax and insurance for the car, and might have paid for parking or toll-charge season tickets that are now wasted. The value of your car may now have artificially dropped because of this problem.

We also believe that everyone should be entitled to compensation for the general inconvenience and loss of use of their vehicle.

We are investigating Citroën’s potential liability, and this claim will seek to recover for the above types of loss and any other suitable remedies on behalf of those who have been affected.

At present, we anticipate that many of the issues in the case will be common across everyone affected, and it would therefore potentially be suitable to require an application to proceed as a Group Litigation. As the basic allegations of wrong-doing are the same for every claim, these issues could be argued once and then applied to every claim – saving time and expense.

Like any case, Group Litigations involves expert evidence, procedural challenges, and multiple court hearings. It is common for these types of cases to take several years to conclude.

We will however be able to provide further update on this in due course.