KUALA LUMPUR: On Tuesday, Honda Malaysia revealed that a man driving a 2004 Honda City in Selangor recently, died from injuries inflicted by a faulty Takata airbag inflator that ruptured in a crash.
In the incident which occurred on New Year’s day in central Selangor, the man – who was not identified – was killed by shrapnel when his car’s Takata airbag inflator exploded during a traffic accident.
According to Honda Malaysia, the airbag inflator on the passenger’s side, however, did not rupture when it was deployed, and functioned in a proper manner in the crash.
The 2004 Honda City model was included in a mandatory recall announced on May 21, 2015, requiring its airbag to be replaced.
However, the victim’s car was bought second-hand and its Takata airbag had not been replaced by the previous owner.
"Several notification letters related to the recall were sent out to the then-owners of the vehicle, based on information in our database, yet the letters were not sent to the current owner due to the change in ownership.
"Our records indicate that the recall replacement was never completed," Honda Malaysia said in a statement on Jan 30.
The Japanese automaker stressed that while it has tried to reach out to all affected owners as part of its mandatory recall, as of Jan 25, 16 per cent of the 221,000 vehicles requiring replacement of driver-side airbags have yet to be brought in for the necessary checks.
Meanwhile, Honda Malaysia has assured the public that the current line-up of Honda cars is not affected by the defect, as they do not have the same type of Takata airbag inflators.
Back in 2017, Takata pleaded guilty to fraud in a US court and agreed to pay more than US$1 billion in penalties for concealing the defect.
The faulty Takata airbag inflators have killed 22 people so far, and have resulted in more than 180 injuries worldwide. – SAYS.COM
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