DETROIT (AP) – A driver in South Carolina is the latest person to be killed by an exploding Takata airbag inflator.
Honda said Wednesday that the airbag of a faulty driver crashed in an accident involving a 2002 Honda Accord in Lancaster County, South Carolina. The company did not give details about the January 9 crash near Charlotte, North Carolina, nor would it identify the person who was killed.
Honda officials and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration inspected the car and airbag parts on Wednesday and determined that the inflator broke, the company said. The death is the 19th in the US since 2009 and the 28th in the world caused by defective inflators.
Takata used volatile ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate airbags in an accident. But the chemical can become more volatile over time when exposed to moisture in the air. The explosion can destroy a metal canister and throw shrapnel into the passenger compartment.
The problem has caused the largest series of vehicle recalls in US history, with at least 63 million inflators recalled. The US government says more than 11.1 million have not been remedied since last year. About 100 million inflators have been recalled worldwide.
Most deaths occurred in the United States, but also in Australia and Malaysia.
Honda said it has shared all the information it has with NHTSA and will continue to cooperate in the latest investigation.
The company said the Accident in South Carolina Accord was recalled in April 2011. Since June 2011, the company has made more than 100 attempts to reach car owners, including mail notifications, phone calls, emails. and even visits in person. , it was said in the statement.
“Our records indicate that the repair of the recall was never completed,” the statement said.
The company said the killed driver was not the registered owner of the deal, and Honda does not know if the driver knew about the unrecovered recall.
The car has changed ownership several times, most recently in October 2020, said Honda spokesman Chris Martin. The company sent the current owner a notice of withdrawal on Nov. 17, 2020, Martin said.
Honda says it has an adequate amount of replacement inflators and is asking people to make recall repairs, especially on older models.
Drivers can check if their vehicles have been recalled by accessing https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls and entering the 17-digit vehicle identification number.
The memories led Takata from Japan to bankruptcy and brought criminal charges against the company. It was eventually purchased by a car parts supplier owned by China.