On Thursday, Nov. 13, Honda said that a Malaysian driver died after her airbag exploded in a July accident, marking the fifth fatality related to faulty equipment and the first outside the United States.

After the incident, the automaker announced a recall of 170,000 vehicles worldwide due to potentially defective airbags. No cars sold in the United States are affected by the recall.

The victims who died in these instances were hit with shrapnel from the airbags. The most recent incident is the company’s 10th airbag-related issue.

At-risk vehicles have airbags manufactured by Takata, a Japanese company. Millions of cars have been recalled because of Takata airbags—6.2 million of which are Hondas.

Issues with the propellants in airbag inflaters can result in the explosion of the inflaters, which causes shrapnel to shoot inside the car and hit the driver or passenger, Takata said.

“We are cooperating fully with the recall and devoting ourselves as a company to strengthening our quality control,” said Takata Chairman and Chief Executive Shigehisa Takada in a statement. “We will make every effort to regain trust.”

According to Honda, the airbag involved in the death of the Malaysian driver was likely to have been exposed to too much moisture at its plant in LaGrange, Ga., which is now closed.

Multiple automakers have also issued recalls because of faulty airbags, including BMW, Chrysler, Nissan and Toyota.

Honda said the latest recalled vehicles include the 2002 That’s micro cars and 2003 to 2008 Fit Arias, both of which are in Japan; the 2003 to 2005 City models in the Asia-Pacific region, the 2003 to 2005 Fit Saloons in China; the 2004 to 2005 Fits and Jazzes, and 2004 Civics, both of which are in Europe.

(With reports from CNN, Reuters and The New York Times)

(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend November 15-18, 2014 Sec. D pg.4)