About 236,900 Citroën car owners in northern France have been notified today to stop driving their vehicles while the airbags are being replaced.
The manufacturer Stellantis has launched a “stop drive” campaign, urging Citroën car owners to urgently fix the airbags and not use the vehicle until then.
The issue involves Takata airbags that can cause serious injuries and have already resulted in at least one death in mainland France and eleven abroad, where the climate degrades one of their components more quickly, according to the Ministry of Transport.
Volkswagen, Nissan, BMW, and Toyota, among other brands, have recalled millions of vehicles equipped with these airbags, with recall campaigns still ongoing today.
After several fatal accidents, a first immobilization campaign had already been launched by Citroën and DS at the beginning of 2024 in southern Europe and the Maghreb, immobilizing thousands of drivers for weeks. In France, this applied to the southern part of the country and overseas territories.
The recall campaign concerns Citroën C3 and DS3 models produced between 2008 and 2013, and comes after the French brand first called on owners of these models to service centers in January 2025, but without a call to stop driving the vehicles.
Since April 2024, as part of the first wave of recalls launched in southern Europe and the Maghreb, more than 400,000 vehicles have been repaired, out of the 530,000 Citroën C3 and DS3 sold between 2009 and 2019 in the affected areas.
The vehicles sold between 2014 and 2019 in northern France and other European countries, such as Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, totaling 869,000 vehicles, will be subject to future recall campaigns, but without immobilization, Stellantis specified.
