Suzuki

The Takata airbag crisis has taken its most serious turn yet, with to up 78,000 cars to be put off the road and bought back by manufacturers at an estimated cost of up to $200 million. Popular cars made by Audi, BMW, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Toyota – sold from 1996 to 2000 – are believed to be equipped with another type of Takata airbag inflator which can also become unstable over time and spray shrapnel when deployed in a crash.

Suzuki has recalled 9817 examples of the 2016-18 Ignis and Baleno, over concerns about the owner's manual. According to the company, the owner's manual could have incorrect information about installing an ISOFIX child seat. If owners follow the instructions and install their seat in the wrong way, there's a risk a child in the seat will be injured in an accident. Suzuki is actually two companies in Australia, one serving Queensland and another serving the rest of the country.

Suzuki is preparing a troupe of cute concepts for the 2019 Tokyo motor show, headlined by the compact Wako SPO coupe. Built to embody the tagline "Waku Waku switch for everyone: Excitement for you, excitement for everyone" (seriously), the range of concept cars preview everything from a plug-in hybrid coupe to a self-driving living room on wheels.

Suzuki has issued two separate recall notices for the 2017-19 Swift and Swift Sport, over concerns about an issue with the airbag controller. According to the company, side airbags, curtain airbags and the seatbelt pretensioner could accidentally deploy when the rear doors are slammed shut because of incorrect software in the airbag controller. There's a risk of injury to the car's occupants if the airbags fire inadvertently.