Report: Traffic Death in Florida Could Be Related to Takata Airbags
The Takata airbag story just won't die.
It's been almost 10 years since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started one of the largest recalls in automotive history. That recall centered on airbag supplier Takata.
Over the years, nearly 20 people have died due to Takata's faulty airbags, and hundreds have been injured. According to Autoblog, one more fatality might be added to the list.
A man killed in a crash in Pensacola, Florida, last mont, might be the 20th victim, at least in the U.S. He was driving a 2006 Ford Ranger that was involved in a minor crash, and the airbag's inflator exploded, which meant shrapnel hit the driver.
Despite the massive recall effort, there are, according to Autoblog, "millions" of vehicles out there that never got fixed, mostly because the owners aren't aware that their car is one of the affected ones.
Not only that, but as recently as 2019, new vehicles were added to the recall list by automakers. The recall affects upwards of 67 million airbags.
If you're not sure if your car is under recall and needs to be fixed, you can check here and enter your VIN.
It's a bit amazing that Takata airbags remain a threat to this day, and that people are still being hurt and killed. The repercussions of a corporate screw-up truly can linger.
[Image: Mariyka Herman/Shutterstock.com]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Off topic - how do I get to the bottom of the Website? If I use the scroll bar, I can see there's a footer with all kinds of links at the Web page (About, Terms, Contact Us, Privacy, etc.), but it only appears for a second, and then the site starts loading more articles. I was trying to figure out how to send an article tip, but I can't get to the bottom of the site without it continuously loading more articles.
I read an account where ford went to the owners house to fix the airbag. Some people.....
My 2012 Yukon had only the passenger side ignitor recalled. Makes me wonder what penny pinching GM did for the driver's airbag.
Could be, but it is more likely that a traffic feath in Florida is some old fnck stroking out behind the wheel of their Avalon.