Driver dies after air bag inflator bursts during crash in South Carolina, Honda says
A South Carolina driver died after a Takata air bag inflator burst during a crash, officials said.
The person was behind the wheel of a 2002 Honda Accord when the car wrecked in January, according to the car company.
During the crash, the air bag inflator “ruptured” and injured the driver, who later died, Honda said Wednesday in a news release. The fatal wreck happened in Lancaster County, along the North Carolina border and south of Charlotte.
“Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the family of the driver,” Honda said.
The car company blamed the driver’s death on the air bag inflator after it conducted a joint investigation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
It wasn’t the first Lancaster County death was tied to a faulty air bag.
In 2015, a driver’s family sued Takata after a Ford pickup truck driver hit a cow and died in the crash, The Herald reported. The parties settled the lawsuit the following year, and court documents related to the agreement were sealed.
Across the nation, Honda said at least 16 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in connection with Takata ruptures. Roughly 67 million of the air bags have been recalled because they “can explode when deployed, causing serious injury or even death,” federal officials said.
The car involved in the South Carolina crash was put under recall in 2011, the same year Honda said it began attempting to contact the owners. Records show the company tried reaching out more than 100 times through various means, but the car’s air bag was never fixed.
“The driver killed in this crash was not the registered owner of the vehicle, and Honda does not know if the driver was aware of the unrepaired recalls affecting this vehicle,” the company said.
Honda said it has replacement parts and encourages people whose cars are under Takata recalls to “get their vehicles repaired at authorized dealers as soon as possible.” The dangers are greater for certain cars, including those in the 2001 to 2003 model years, according to officials.
“Do not drive these vehicles with Takata air bags unless you are going straight to a dealer to have them repaired immediately,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in its warning about older Honda and Acura cars that have the so-called “Alpha” air bags.
To check for recalls, drivers can enter a car’s VIN number at nhtsa.gov/recalls or register for alerts at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/subscriptions. Honda also has search tools at recalls.honda.com and recalls.acura.com.
This story was originally published April 22, 2021 at 10:23 AM with the headline "Driver dies after air bag inflator bursts during crash in South Carolina, Honda says."
