In Treviso, as throughout Italy, the Citroën and DS Automobiles case broke out, with the owners of the Citroën C3 models produced from 9 April 2009 to 20 February 2017 and DS3 models produced from 26 June 2009 to 30 May 2019 receiving a registered letter which orders them to “Stop driving the vehicle immediately”, because the Takata-type airbag is defective and there could be a risk of “serious injury or death”.
The Adiconsum offices have already received several reports from citizens who, following the procedure indicated by Citroën and DS, went to the authorized workshops but discovered the lack of the necessary spare parts, the impossibility of having a certain date for making the vehicles safe car and the non-functioning of the procedures for obtaining compensation through a voucher or the provision of a replacement car. The stoppage concerns 599,772 vehicles (491,171 Citroen C3 and 108,601 DS3). The reason for the block is due to the chemicals contained in the Takata airbags of the affected models which “could deteriorate over time, exposing the driver and passenger to the risk of the airbag inflator rupturing with excessive force in the event of an accident, in capable of causing serious injury or death.”
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The case
Among the many reports received in the editorial office, one of our readers tells how, from next Monday, May 27, his wife (a support teacher in a middle school in the Marche) will no longer be able to use the car to go to school, thus leaving the pupils without a teacher in the last days of the school year. «We received the registered letter sent by the Stellantis Group on May 19th – explains MP -. Although my wife is free to use the car (the police or carabinieri would have no reason to stop or fine her), if someone crashed into it causing the faulty airbags to explode and cause physical damage or death, the insurance company could refuse to fully compensate the damage by attributing a good part of the responsibility to us for having circulated aware of the problem”. When they went to the dealer where the car had been purchased, the couple was told that no courtesy cars were available, nor were there any refunds for any car rentals. “They also tell me that until I receive a special code from Citroen or from Gruppo Psa Italia and I will not be able to take it to them, they cannot proceed to order the spare parts necessary to work on my car and make it safe. When asked when I will receive this code, silence: 1 month 2-3 6 months, no one knows. I find the behavior of Citroen and the group to which it belongs indecent, shameful and fraudulent as well as harmful towards my family where if we don’t find an alternative that allows my wife to go to work she clearly risks being fired” concludes our reader.
