-2.1 C
New York City
Friday, March 29, 2024
Home Around-the-World Honda confirms 17th U.S. Death in Takata Air Bag Rupture

Honda confirms 17th U.S. Death in Takata Air Bag Rupture

Honda Motor Corporation has confirmed another death in its Honda 2002 Civic resulting from faulty Takata air bag inflator. This has raised the number victims to 17 in the United States.

In a statement released over the weekend, the Japanese automaker said that after a joint inspection with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), it confirmed a faulty air bag inflator was to blame for the Aug. 20 crash of a 2002 Honda Civic that led to the death of a driver in Mesa, Arizona.

The defect, which leads in rare instances to air bag inflators rupturing and sending metal fragments flying, prompted the largest automotive recall in U.S. history and is tied to 15 U.S. deaths in Honda vehicles and two in Ford Motor Co vehicles since 2009. More than 290 injuries are also tied to faulty Takata inflators and at least 26 deaths worldwide.

Honda said the 2002 Civic had been under recall since December 2011 for replacement of the driver’s frontal airbag inflator, while the passenger’s frontal airbag inflator was recalled in 2014.

Honda sent more than 15 mailed recall notices over eight years to registered owners of the vehicle before the crash and made other attempts to contact owners. The driver killed was not the registered owner and Honda said it was not certain if the driver was aware of the unrepaired recalls.

The most recent previous fatal confirmed U.S. incident was the June 2018 death of a driver after the crash of a 2002 Honda Civic in Buckeye, Arizona.

The Takata recalls cover about 100 million inflators among 19 major automakers worldwide, including about 63 million inflators in the United States.

NHTSA says the cause of inflator explosions that can emit deadly fragments is propellant breaking down after long-term exposure to high temperature fluctuations and humidity.

In August, Honda agreed to pay $85 million to settle an investigation by most U.S. states into its use of defective Takata inflators.

©Copyright MOTORING WORLD INTERNATIONAL.
All rights reserved. Materials, photographs, illustrations and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior written permission from Motoring World International

Contact: [email protected]

 

Most Popular

Baltimore Bridge Disaster: Immigrants Died Doing Job ‘Others Do Not Want To Do

They came to the United States for a chance at a better life. They found work filling pot holes on a bridge in the...

Fully Electric Volvo EX30 Named 2024 World Urban Car

Volvo Company on Thursday burst into celebration, as its fully electric EX30, landed a big accolade at the prestigious World Car Awards. Beating a competitive...

Nissan to Compete in All-Electric FIA World Championship until 2030

Nissan has expressed commitment to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship until at least 2030, reinforcing its Ambition 2030 electrification plans. Running from Season...

2024 Easter Special Patrol: FRSC Deploys 200 Mobile Courts, Over 1000 Vehicles, others

As part of its measures to prevent road crash during the Ester celebration, the Federal Road safety Corps has deployed not less than 200...