04/06/2018

Takata's woes worsen

Reuters reports that Honda has confirmed that a Takata air bag inflator ruptured in a fatal car crash last week.

This latest incident takes the number of deaths linked to Takata's faulty air bag inflators to 23 worldwide, with 19 in Honda vehicles. The problem was highlighted in 2009 and saw the biggest auto industry safety recall in history with 100 million inflators over 19 major auto manufacturers.

According to Honda, the latest death occurred in Kuala Lumpur in a 2004 Honda City vehicle which, although had been recalled, had never been repaired. While the recall has been well publicised, almost 30 million U.S. vehicles remain unrepaired, with Honda, Ford and Mazda warning that owners of some older affected vehicles should stop driving them until the repairs have been made.

Of the confirmed Honda deaths, 13 have been in the United States and five in Malaysia. The other three ruptures in fatal crashes outside the United States took place in Australia and Malaysia.

More than 290 injuries worldwide are also linked to Takata inflators that can explode, unleashing metal shrapnel inside cars and trucks. The defect led Takata to file for bankruptcy protection in June 2017.

In April, auto components maker Key Safety Systems completed a $1.6bn (£1.2bn) deal to acquire Takata. The merged company is now known as Joyson Safety Systems and is a subsidiary of Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp.