Car maintenance: Common airbag issues - Honest John answers your questions

Honest John has been the resident “agony uncle” at The Daily Telegraph for more than 20 years, responding to readers’ car-related queries with his trademark blend of experience, authority and, sometimes, bluntness.

He remains undeterred by the volume of correspondence he receives every week, from car-buying advice to the sort of complex legal cases from which he has gained a solid reputation as a champion of consumer rights.

Despite receiving many hundreds of queries each week from Telegraph readers and via his own website, Honest continues to deliver his no-nonsense - and, always, highly trusted - advice.

For ease of use, we’ve broken batches of Honest John queries into sections relating to the nature of the problem, such as tyres, odd noises, diesel issues, automatic gearboxes and the like.

If your car has developed a fault, or for consumer advice, turn to Honest John by emailing honestadvice@telegraph.co.uk

And if you’re one of the many readers who simply enjoys the amusing headlines (credit goes to Simon Arron for these), then go to our selection from the extensive Honest John archive.

Car safety recalls and airbag faults

In September 2015 I received a safety recall notice from Toyota regarding the passenger airbag inflator on my Avensis. I waited patiently for many months and am still waiting. I’m told that there is a shortage of spare parts from Toyota and nobody seems able to give me a date. What can I do? DC

This is part of the worldwide Takata airbag inflator recall affecting 42,600,000 airbags on 33,800,000 cars. It is physically impossible for the company to produce 42,600,000 airbag inflators in a short time period. This is taking many years and has bankrupted Takata. Cars in areas of high humidity are getting the replacements first.

Problematic air vents

I have a 2011/61 Toyota Avensis TR D-4D and white dust regularly blows out of the air vents when I put on the air-con. CM

This must have something to do with the heater trunking. A first guess is that someone has removed the pollen filter from the system. A second is that the pollen filter has fallen apart. A third is that someone has stashed an illegal substance behind the vents.