Honda Exploding Airbag Killed Woman In Malaysia

[2BDriver]

https://my.news.yahoo.com/honda-reports-exploding-takata-airbag-death-080959542--finance.html

Honda said Thursday that an exploding airbag in one of its cars killed a woman in Malaysia, bringing to five the number of deaths linked to a defect in parts made by embattled Japanese supplier Takata.

The previous four cases happened in the United States, but Honda said another woman died in a July crash after the rupture of a Takata-made airbag.

"An airbag on one of our vehicles exploded abnormally and a Malaysian woman was killed," said a Tokyo-based spokesman for the Civic and Accord maker.

At least three of the five deaths "were caused by an abnormal airbag explosion, including the latest case in Malaysia", Honda said, adding that the airbag's involvement in the other two cases had yet to be confirmed.

The news came as the car giant announced an additional recall of more than 170,000 vehicles worldwide due to the risk that an explosion could send metal shards from the airbag's inflator hurtling at drivers.

Police reportedly investigated at least one driver death in the US as a murder due to woman's grisly injuries, until their focus switched to the vehicle's airbag.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the US auto safety regulator, has expanded its "urgent" warning to owners of cars with affected airbags to take them to dealers to fix the problem.

Takata is facing the biggest test in its 80-year history with lawsuits, calls for a criminal probe, and accusations of "deception and obfuscation" over the potentially deadly defect.

Millions of vehicles produced by some of the world's biggest automakers, including Honda, Toyota and General Motors, are being recalled over the problem.

- Cover-up claims -

Honda has been named in a US lawsuit as a defendant, which alleges it conspired with Takata to hide the flaw for years.

Quoting former Takata employees, the New York Times has reported that secret tests were conducted a decade ago to investigate the issue, but executives ordered the destruction of data that exposed design flaws.

Takata's Tokyo-listed shares have lost about half their value since an investigation was opened in June.

Attention has focused on a Takata plant in Mexico, with suspicions the defect may be linked to a chemical propellant used to inflate the airbags which can more easily rupture in areas with high humidity.

On Thursday, the company confirmed that it had changed the chemical makeup of its airbag propellants, but insisted the move wasn't linked to design flaws.

"We constantly update our products -- it has nothing to do with the recalls," a Takata spokesman told AFP.

Takata has warned over a bigger-than-expected annual loss, but its top executives have stayed largely silent on the crisis.

Founded in 1933 as a textile company, Takata evolved into an automotive parts giant that started selling airbags in the 1980s and now has dozens of plants and offices in 20 countries, including the United States,China and Mexico.

The airbag division accounts for about 40 percent of its total revenue, which amounted to 556.99 billion yen ($4.88 billion) last fiscal year.

Major automakers have shied away from discussing their future relationship with Takata, but a quick switch is unlikely given the Japanese giant's foothold in the sector.

Still, parts sourcing for the 2019-2020 model years is happening right now, and a Toyota executive last month said the world's biggest automaker wants to replace the defective part "with something of better quality".

[Spinelli_ck]

jialat man. the airbag has become a ticking timebomb. Final Destination in the making.

[Quantum]

jialat man, honda got problem

[Caravan]

http://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/pregnant-malaysia-woman-died-due-faulty-air-bag?singlepage=true

 

KUALA LUMPUR – A Malaysian woman who died in a car accident due to a defective air bag manufactured by Takata Corp. was pregnant and perished with her unborn baby, Japanese automaker Honda said today (Nov 14).

Mr Jordhatt Johan, head of public relations with Honda Malaysia, said the driver-side air bag in the woman’s 2003 Honda City deployed abnormally and its inflator broke when the vehicle crashed into another car in the July 27 incident. Honda was notified about the accident a month later, he said.

“The woman died, unfortunately, and her foetus died too,” Mr Jordhatt said. “The cause of death was due to the rupture of the inflator.”

Global recalls related to air bags manufactured by Japan’s Takata number more than 12 million vehicles and the Malaysian death is the fifth worldwide. The other four deaths were in the United States.

Honda has already recalled millions of vehicles and this week expanded its recalls after getting new information about the fatality in July. Mr Jordhatt said Honda only recently learnt that the inflator was defective in driver-side air bags because Takata failed to control the humidity during production.

Faulty inflators can explode, hurling shrapnel toward drivers and passengers.

Mr Jordhatt said that globally, Honda is recalling 170,699 vehicles due to the faulty driver-side air bags.

Honda is still using Takata air bags and has no plans to switch as the company is satisfied that the problem was confined to the models being recalled, he said.

“We assure our customers that all our current models are not affected,” he said.

He declined to give further details of the incident or comment on the issue of compensation.

The recalls worldwide involve 10 automakers including Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Co. and various nations such as Japan, China and European countries. About 8 million of the recalls are in the United States.

None of the vehicles included in the latest recall by Honda were sold in the US, the company said.

Chief executive officer of Takata, Mr Shigehisa Takada, apologised for the problems with the air bags in a statement issued yesterday, saying his company was determined to prevent further problems. The company is under investigation by the US Justice Department. AP

 

Great news for those Honda owners.

[Ahbengdriver]

That's the problem with Jap companies. Good at cover ups until they cannot cover anymore.

 

Like electronic products, the Koreans are gonna overtake the Jap cars, which don't deserve the term 'reliability' anymore.

[Quantum]

That's the problem with Jap companies. Good at cover ups until they cannot cover anymore.

 

Like electronic products, the Koreans are gonna overtake the Jap cars, which don't deserve the term 'reliability' anymore.

AFFECTED VEHICLES (total number if known in parentheses):

Acura: 2002–2003 CL and TL; 2003–2006 MDX; 2005 RL

BMW (627,615): 2000–2005 3-series sedan and wagon; 2000–2006 3-series coupe and convertible; 2001–2006 M3 coupe and convertible

Chrysler (371,309, including Dodge): 2005–2008 Chrysler 300; 2007–2008 Aspen

Dodge/Ram (371,309, including Chrysler): 2003–2008 Dodge Ram 1500; 2005–2008 Ram 2500, Dakota, and Durango; 2006–2008 Ram 3500 and 4500; 2008 Ram 5500

Ford (58,669): 2004 Ranger; 2005–2006 GT; 2005–2007 Mustang

Honda (5,051,364, including Acura): 2001–2007 Accord; 2001–2005 Civic; 2002–2006 CR-V; 2002–2004 Odyssey; 2003–2011 Element; 2003–2007 Pilot; 2006 Ridgeline

Infiniti: 2001–2004 Infiniti I30/I35; 2002–2003 Infiniti QX4; 2003–2005 Infiniti FX35/FX45; 2006 Infiniti M35/M45

Lexus: 2002–2005 SC430

Mazda (64,872): 2003–2007 Mazda 6; 2006–2007 Mazdaspeed 6; 2004–2008 Mazda RX-8; 2004–2005 MPV; 2004 B-series

Mitsubishi (11,985): 2004–2005 Lancer; 2006–2007 Raider

Nissan (717,364, including Infiniti): 2001–2003 Maxima; 2001–2004 Pathfinder; 2002–2006 Nissan Sentra

Pontiac: 2003–2005 Vibe

Saab: 2005 9-2X

Subaru (17,516): 2003–2005 Baja, Legacy, Outback; 2004–2005 Impreza, Impreza WRX, Impreza WRX STI

Toyota (877,000, including Lexus and Pontiac Vibe): 2002–2005 Toyota Corolla and Sequoia; 2003–2005 Matrix, Tundra"

[Watwheels]

Shouldn't it be Takata exploding airbags that can cause grevious hurt to passengers?

 

Honda is just using the airbag in a lot of their models.

[Camrysfa]

 

. Former Takata employees told the NY Times that secret tests were conducted a full decade ago to investigate the defect, but executives ordered the destruction of data that exposed design flaws.

[Kb27]

...and airbag is supposed to save lives.

[Chucky2007]

Nothing surprising.. WW2 invasion can be twisted into liberating war against colony masters... The top leader also shamelessly twist facts, so business community also follow and diam diam

[Eyke]

~400 to be recalled so far here in SG... http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/about-400-vehicles-singapore-will-be-recalled-due-defect :

 

"The automakers affected include Honda, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota."

 

LTA recall site still not updated though: https://vrl.lta.gov.sg/lta/vrl/action/pubfunc?ID=EnquireVehRecallBulletin

Edited November 15, 2014 by Eyke

[BabyBlade]

What I learnt from this incident.. Drive safe, drive defensively, and pray that I will never ever need the aid of airbag to save/take my life.

[Fuelsaver]

What I learnt from this incident.. Drive safe, drive defensively, and pray that I will never ever need the aid of airbag to save/take my life.

issue is other didn't do the same n still cause ur ride airbag to deploy.

[RadX]

Nothing surprising.. WW2 invasion can be twisted into liberating war against colony masters... The top leader also shamelessly twist facts, so business community also follow and diam diam

 

 

and Fukushima

[Stooky]

Another Takata airbag rupture in fatal Johor crash, involving a 2009 Honda City

 

http://m.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/honda-another-takata-airbag-rupture-in-fatal-malaysia-crash?campaign_id=A100