Citroen urges C3 owners to stop driving in Europe, to recall affected cars. Should you be worried too?

Citroen has urged the owners of C3 and DS3 models in Europe to stop driving the cars after the latest airbag-related death. The French auto giant on Tuesday told the owners of the C3 and DS3 models on the continent equipped with potentially faulty Takata airbags to immediately cease driving the vehicles. The move comes after a woman was killed in France earlier this month. The immobilisation order has affected around 441,000 units of Citroen C3 and DS3 cars in Europe, on top of the hundreds of thousands already recalled by the OEM since early last year.

AFP has reported that a recall is on the cards from the automaker for the potentially impacted models owing to the faulty Takata airbags. This comes as the latest move in a recall scandal dating from 2014, after investigators determined the airbags had caused several deaths because they exploded when deployed in the case of an accident.

Earlier this month, the French government urged Citroen, which is currently owned by the Stellantis group, to issue an immediate immobilisation order to the owners of the impacted models after a 37-year-old woman was killed when her car's airbag malfunctioned during an accident, projecting parts into her. This was the 13th death linked to the defective Takata airbags in dozens of accidents in France, reported the news agency.

Until now, Citroen had only asked drivers to make appointments to have the airbags replaced, a process carried out in multiple stages since early 2024. However, the move to tell the C3 owners to stop driving the vehicles comes as a new step from the automaker, which is alarming. Speaking about this, Citroen's CEO Xavier Chardon, has reportedly said, "Given the circumstances, we have decided to issue a 'stop drive' to accelerate their repair."

Citroen is not the only affected car manufacturer in the world owing to the Takata airbag scandal. Several other major global auto manufacturers, including Volkswagen, Nissan, BMW and Toyota, have also been impacted due to the issue. These auto manufacturers have recalled millions of vehicles containing the Takata airbags.

Citroen sells the C3 model in India as well, alongside other cars such as the Basalt, Aircross, eC3, and C5 Aircross. Citroen India is yet to announce such a move for the consumers of C3 in the country.

Check out Upcoming Cars in India 2025, Best SUVs in India.