Another Takata Airbag Tragedy
American Honda and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) confirmed that a defective Takata airbag inflator ruptured in the crash of a 2002 Honda Accord on January 9th in Lancaster County, South Carolina. The ruptured inflator led to the driver’s death.
There have been 16 U.S. deaths and more than 200 injuries due to ruptured Takata airbag driver’s inflators. Two other automakers have had three Takata airbag inflator fatalities, for a total of 19 in the U.S.
According to Honda, the vehicle involved had been under a recall since April 2011 for replacement of the Takata driver’s frontal airbag inflator. Honda sent mailers, and made phone calls, emails, and in-person visits, but completed no repairs. The driver killed in the accident was not the owner. It is unclear if the driver knew of the vehicle recall.
Honda has sufficient replacement inflators now to complete free repairs for any recalled Hondas and Acuras in the United States. They urge all owners of any Honda or Acura affected by the Takata airbag inflator recall to get their vehicles to an authorized dealer immediately. Older vehicles, particularly 2001-2003 model year vehicles, have an increased risk of an airbag inflator rupture, and they pose the greatest safety hazard. Owners can check their vehicles’ recall status at www.recalls.honda.com or www.recalls.acura.com.
From my experience with a Ford Ranger equipped with a Takata airbag, it took six months and two Ford dealerships to get a replacement inflator. I wondered if I was driving a time bomb, and the notion that the inflator could explode at any time was unsettling. The first dealer was unconcerned, but the second dealer, Vancouver Ford in Washington, gave me a loaner vehicle for two weeks until the repair was completed. The service manager told me Ford had authorized him to provide loaners to avoid this from occurring.
If two other automakers have had a total of three deaths, and Honda has had 16, what does that tell you about its — and/or its dealers — efforts to get all of these vehicles repaired without further injury or loss of life?
[Image: Honda]
With a father who owned a dealership, I literally grew up in the business. After college, I worked for GM, Nissan and Mazda, writing articles for automotive enthusiast magazines as a side gig. I discovered you could make a living selling ad space at Four Wheeler magazine, before I moved on to selling TV for the National Hot Rod Association. After that, I started Roadhouse, a marketing, advertising and PR firm dedicated to the automotive, outdoor/apparel, and entertainment industries. Through the years, I continued writing, shooting, and editing. It keep things interesting.
More by Jason R. Sakurai
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I am in the process of buying my third Buick Lucerne and upgrading it into a WILDCAT, with the three 1966 emblems. One of the best sedans ever built and riding on the G-platform that, with serious suspension changes, would have been the third generation Oldsmobile Aurora.
As tragic as this is, Honda has gone out of their way to notify people about this, so the owner must have been living under a rock or negligent if he (or she) hadn't had this vehicle serviced yet. That being said, the negligence factor is a reality. I work for a multi-franchise automotive organization and we've been chasing this one buyer for two years to get him to bring his pickup truck in for a recall repair, offered him all kinds of incentives for him to do so, and he still refuses to come in. And meanwhile, the manufacturer is on our back every month about it.