Our old car is a 2007 Yaris. It's nice. We love it. And we thought, with my niece just about to get her driver's license, that it would be a great vehicle to learn in. Although it technically has very little value in monetary terms, it's been well maintained, and will probably live another 100K miles or more.
So when a recall notice came in for it, I was not too surprised - I've taken it in for a few things, like the rails that hold the seats in place needed to be replaced (as one person described it, 'Toyota didn't take into account how big Americans are'). These things happen.
And I kind of expected this recall anyway - I've certainly heard the news about the takata airbags and their tendency to shoot metal shrapnel into people's faces, so an airbag recall was not a surprise.
What was a surprise was what the letter contained. It informed me that my car had defective airbags, they were working on a fix, and in the meantime could I please refrain from letting anyone sit in the passenger seat. Of course, I'm assuming (but I don't know) that the driver's airbag is the same brand, so I read the letter as 'we would like to inform you that your car will kill you, we're working on it, in the meantime please don't drive your car'. Which seems a bit much. But I guess the alternative is not telling me. And considering the number of lawsuits I'm sure are already flying around at least they can say they've covered their bases on this one!