Takata Said to Be the Cause of Death
26 year old Jewel Brangman passed away after sustaining injuries to the neck and head while driving a rental Honda Civic that featured Takata airbags. As has become the case in a number of incidents relating to the airbags, too much force caused them to explode and send metal shrapnel flying. The airbag was determined to be the cause of Brangman’s death not only by Honda itself, but by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association. As a result of these determinations, Jewel’s father has filed a lawsuit against Honda and Takata, as well as the establishment where she rented the car.
What Went Wrong With the Takata Airbags?
The consensus is that the reason for the Takata airbags being so unreliable and dangerous stems from the use of ammonium nitrate. The major risk that comes with ammonium nitrate is that when it is exposed to moisture, it becomes highly unstable. When ammonium nitrate becomes unstable, it burns faster. And when it burns faster, the metal canister in the airbag that’s meant to contain the explosion breaks apart. These explosions have now resulted in eight deaths from the Takata airbags.
More Vehicles are Being Recalled
Honda has added one million vehicles to an already immensely large amount of cars being recalled due to the Takata airbags. The total now is up to nearly an astonishing 34 million vehicles. And Honda is not the only company reeling from the Takata controversy; Toyota has been forced to recall cars too as have General Motors and several other companies. Many of the recalled vehicles are models from 2003-2007.
Honda Claims They Tried to Prevent This
The Brangmans may be suing Honda as a result of the defective airbags, but Honda is working hard to cover themselves. Honda representatives claimed that in June 2013, they notified Sunshine Car Rental LLC of an airbag recall, but that their warnings went unheeded. In fact, this car was supposedly part of a recall that first started all the way back in July of 2009 and that up to four notices were sent for the car to get repaired.
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