Federal safety regulators and Honda have opened investigations into what could be the 13th U.S.-based death linked to recalled shrapnel-shooting Takata airbags.
Honda announced Thursday that a Takata airbag inflator ruptured during the crash of a 2002 Honda Accord in Florida last week, in which a 34-year-old woman was killed, Reuters reports.
While an official cause of death has not been confirmed, Honda and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are investigating whether the ruptured airbag played a part in the woman’s death.
The crash occurred around 6:40 p.m. July 19 in Holiday, FL, when a 19-year-old in a Pontiac Firebird turned into the woman’s path, WTSP10 reports.
Consumerist has reached out to Takata for additional information on the crash and investigation. We’ll update this post if we hear back.
If the death is confirmed to be a result of the Takata airbag rupture it would become the 13th in the U.S. and 18th worldwide.
It would also be the 12th such death in the U.S. to occur in a Honda vehicle. Ford is the only other carmaker to have a vehicle involved in a Takata-related death. Earlier this year, the Dec. 22 death of a Georgia man driving a Ford Ranger pickup was linked to airbag shrapnel.
To find out if a vehicle is affected by the recall owners are urged to enter their individual VIN on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Safercar.gov/vin database.
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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