The NHTSA said a driver died in 2018 from an exploding Takata airbag inflator in a Honda Civic, marking the 28th death linked to the ongoing recall campaign.
If you’re sick of hearing about the Takata airbag inflator recall and the millions of vehicles impacted, that’s completely understandable, but a new statement shows the dire consequences the dangerous defect poses to scores of U.S. drivers. This week, news broke that safety regulators definitively linked another death to an exploding Takata inflator, bringing the total up to 28 American drivers. Worldwide, the total stands at 36.
According to a statement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Alabama driver was killed while driving a 2004 Honda Civic back in 2018. As for why it took so long to make that determination, the high-speed nature of this particular crash supposedly made it difficult to narrow down the Takata inflator as the cause of death. As of this moment, though, the NHTSA gave no further details.
Honda and Acura, for their part, are still urging owners of affected vehicles to have the recall work completed to replace the faulty OEM inflators at a dealership as soon as possible. The company says 95% of the impacted recall population — including early 2000s and 2010s examples of popular models like the Accord, Civic, CR-V and Pilot, among others — have been repaired. Owners can check Honda or Acura‘s recall websites to determine whether their specific vehicle needs the work done or not.
To date, the Takata airbag inflator scandal stands as the largest set of automotive recalls in U.S. history, affecting more than 67 million inflators here and 100 million worldwide. The impact of 28 fatalities since 2009 as well as the crushing financial toll of such a massive campaign pitched Takata into bankruptcy in April 2018.
