KUALA LUMPUR: Honda Motor Co and Takata Corp have been sued in the United States (US) over the death of a pregnant woman caused by airbag shrapnel in Sarawak, last year.
Bloomberg said in a low-speed crash in July last year, Law Suk Leh, 42, a mother, died when a metal fragment sliced into her neck. Her daughter who was delivered after her death died three days later.
Suk Leh’s father, Law Ngee Chiong had filed a lawsuit on Thursday in the Federal Court, in Miami, Florida, the US, because “the defective inflator at issue” was made in LaGrange, Georgia, attorney Kevin Dean told Bloomberg in an interview.
“He sued on behalf of her estate and the estate of his granddaughter,” the report said.
Following the incident, Bloomberg said 10 automakers including Honda and Toyota Motor Corp, have recalled about 17 million vehicles with Takata air bags since 2008.
It said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said that the air bags’ inflators might malfunction if exposed to consistently high humidity, deploying with too much force and shooting metal pieces into drivers and passengers.
“The mother’s death is only one of the six, including five in the US, blamed on shrapnel expelled through Takata air bags,” the report said.
In citing US Senator Bill Nelson, it said at least 105 injuries were connected to the flaw.
However, Bloomberg said a Honda spokesman Chris Martin and a Takata spokesman Jared Levy declined to comment on the issue.
Suk Leh, who was driving a 2003 Honda City in Sawarak on July 27, was travelling at 30km an hour when she was hit by another vehicle at an intersection, according to the lawsuit.
“She died in an ambulance on the way to a hospital, according to the suit. Suk Leh was survived by her 10-year-old son,” Dean was quoted as saying.
Bloomberg said Ngee Chiong’s lawsuit has been combined with about 24 air-bag personal injury and death claims before US District Judge Federico Moreno in Miami for pretrial rulings and evidence-gathering.
It said attorneys in the cases had on Thursday filed a combined complaint claiming that Takata, Honda and others hid airbag defects for years.
“Class actions against Takata, Honda and multiple automakers claiming losses of vehicle value tied to the recalls are also combined before Moreno in Miami.
“The car owners’ lawyers filed a combined complaint on Thursday, contending the companies concealed quality problems and inflated the cost of cars and trucks,” Bloomberg added.
The case is Chiong v. Takata Corp, 15-cv-21635, US District Court, Southern District of Florida (Miami). The consolidated case is In re: Takata Airbag Product Liability Litigation, 15-MD-2599, US District Court, Southern District of Florida (Miami).