Report: Traffic Death in Florida Could Be Related to Takata Airbags

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

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
Tim Healey

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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  • Dukeisduke Dukeisduke on Aug 05, 2022

    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.



    • ToolGuy ToolGuy on Aug 05, 2022

      "how do I get to the bottom of the Website?" This Website has reached the bottom on its own :)

      (If you click on your name, you will be taken to your Profile page which is short and doesn't scroll on its own. Protip courtesy of Pete Zaitcev.)

  • Redapple2 Redapple2 on Aug 06, 2022

    I read an account where ford went to the owners house to fix the airbag. Some people.....

  • Sobro Sobro on Aug 06, 2022

    My 2012 Yukon had only the passenger side ignitor recalled. Makes me wonder what penny pinching GM did for the driver's airbag.

    • NormSV650 NormSV650 on Sep 21, 2022

      Most GM vehicles didn't need a Takata airbags recall as their engineering had them redesigned.


      "...

      GM says the window glass used in the vehicles helps to protect the cabins from high temperatures which in turn helps to keep the inflators cooler. In addition, the airbags allegedly have more venting and special propellant wafers unique to GM vehicles...GM hired a scientific research company called Orbital ATK to test the inflators and in December 2016, the automaker said no Takata airbag inflators had exploded out of 44,000 deployments. In addition, no inflators had ruptured in lab tests of more than 1,000 inflators.. Carcomplaints












  • Art Vandelay Art Vandelay on Aug 29, 2022

    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.

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