Eight deaths now linked to faulty Takata airbags
Honda’s U.S. division said on Friday (19 June) it has linked the September 2014 death of a woman in Los Angeles, California, to the rupture of a Takata airbag inflator, bringing the number of fatalities related to defective Takata airbags to eight, Reuters reports.
U.S. highway safety regulators also confirmed that the death of Jewel Brangman in a 2001 Honda Civic is the seventh U.S. death, and the eighth fatality worldwide related to Takata airbag inflators that can explode, sending shards of metal throughout a car.
U.S. regulators have ordered the recall of about 34 million vehicles equipped with Takata airbag inflators, although the exact number of vehicles affected by the recall is unclear, data from manufacturers indicates the number is more than 16 million vehicles in the U.S.
Honda said it is urging owners of recalled vehicles to get airbag inflators repaired ‘as soon as possible.’
