A South Carolina motorist has become the latest victim of an exploding Takata airbag inflator.
On Wednesday, Honda confirmed that the driver of a 2002 Accord was killed in a crash on January 9, 2021 near Charlotte, North Carolina when the airbag inflator of their vehicle blew apart in a crash. The Japanese car manufacturer did not identify the person that was killed.
Officials from Honda and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently inspected the car and confirmed that the inflator had ruptured. This marks the 19th death in the U.S. since 2009 caused by the faulty Takata airbag inflator and is the 28th confirmed fatality worldwide, NPR reports.
Read Also: Honda To Pay $85 Million To Settle Takata Airbag Probe In The U.S.
The airbag inflators in question used ammonium nitrate to create an explosion in order to inflate airbags in a crash. However, when exposed to moisture and humidity, the chemical can become more volatile and in the event of a crash, the explosion can blow apart a metal canister and send shrapnel flying into the passenger compartment.
Honda says this Accord involved was recalled in April of 2011 but records show the recall repair was never completed. The driver who was killed in the crash was not the registered owner of the car and Honda doesn’t know if they knew of the unrepaired recall. The current owner was sent a recall notice on November 17, 2020 but failed to act.
The car manufacturer has urged all owners of affected vehicles to have the recall repairs completed. They can check whether their vehicles has been recalled by visiting nhtsa.gov/recalls and typing their car’s 17-digit vehicle identification number (VIN).
