Last week, Honda confirmed the ninth Takata airbag death, this one in a crash involving a Honda Accord in July 2015. This is the eighth confirmed Takata airbag-related death in the U.S. and the first one to occur since April 2015. Honda cooperated with regulators in an inspection of the parts involved and “confirmed that the Takata driver’s front airbag inflator ruptured.” The company stated that the “injuries related to this airbag inflator rupture likely resulted in the tragic death of the underage driver.”
Last week, Honda confirmed the ninth Takata airbag death, this one in a crash involving a Honda Accord in July 2015. This is the eighth confirmed Takata airbag-related death in the U.S. and the first one to occur since April 2015. Honda cooperated with regulators in an inspection of the parts involved and “confirmed that the Takata driver’s front airbag inflator ruptured.” The company stated that the “injuries related to this airbag inflator rupture likely resulted in the tragic death of the underage driver.”
According to news reports, the accident occurred in the early morning hours of July 22. The driver, a 13-year old boy apparently took the keys without parental permission and drove away in the 2001 Honda Accord coupe. Pennsylvania State Police said he was the sole occupant of the vehicle, which ran off the road into a wooded area in western Pennsylvania. The driver was hospitalized and died of injuries several days after the accident.
The Accord’s previous owner received a recall notice in 2010 and a new one was mailed to the current owners the day before the tragic accident.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reached a settlement with Takata last November in which the company agreed to pay a safety violations fine of $70M with possibilities of that growing to $130M in deferred penalties. The agency appointed a former Justice Department official to assist regulators in one of the biggest, most complex automotive recall efforts in U.S. history.
The recall involves roughly 23M airbag inflators installed in 19M vehicles made by 12 different auto companies. When a defective inflator ruptures, it explodes with much more force than normal sending metal shrapnel into the vehicle cabin.
To date, there have been eight U.S. deaths and one death in Malaysia, of a pregnant woman. All nine deaths linked to defective Takata airbag inflators have occurred in Honda vehicles.
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