Toyota Canada is warning owners of more than 7,000 recalled vehicles

Toyota has told owners of about 7,300 vehicles in Canada to stop driving them because their airbags could explode.
A Toyota Canada spokesperson said today that the notice covers certain 2003-2004 models, including the approximately 5,000 Toyota Corollas, 1,600 Toyota Corolla Matrix and 700 RAV4s sold in Canada.
While the recall is not new, spokesman Philip Crowe said the company hopes to contact customers who may still be driving their cars and the problem has not yet been resolved.
"A stop driving notice is being sent to vehicle owners who have not completed the recall process on their vehicle after multiple contact attempts," Crowe said in an email.
     Toyota Canada said on its website that the affected vehicles are equipped with Takata airbags, which use an actuator that "may degrade over time" or "after prolonged exposure to high temperature fluctuations and environmental humidity."
No Canadian deaths have been reported in connection with the recall, possibly due to Canada's lower absolute humidity.
At least 29 people in the United States have been killed by Takata inflators since May 2009, and at least 30 people worldwide have died from injuries caused by air bags.
A warning was issued to owners of about 61,000 Toyota and General Motors vehicles in the United States on Monday, the latest in a series of warnings about Takata airbags dating back a decade. A series of recalls began in 2014, when the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ordered the company to begin a nationwide air bag recall. Takata has since gone bankrupt.



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