Girl Killed By a Malfunctioning Takata Airbag.

A young girl aged 17 has become another victim of an exploding Takata air bag. The girl died after her car crashed near Houston.

The girl named Richmond from Texas was driving a 2002 Honda Civic in Fort Bend County when the car crashed into another vehicle forcing the airbags to go off.

The malfunctioning airbag inflators is reported to have killed 10 people in the US and another in Malaysia. This development has triggered a massive automotive recall in not only US but all over the world.

More than a hundred persons have sustained injuries by the inflators which often explode with too much force. When it does, it blows apart a metal canister that sends fragments towards drivers and passengers.

According to Danny Beckworth, who investigated the crash, it has been confirmed that pieces of shrapnel hit the girl on the neck and killed her instantly. The Sheriff’s Deputy Danny is yet to reveal the driver’s speed at the time of the crash.

He continued: “The crash was “moderate” and wouldn’t have caused any serious injuries if not for the air bag.

“Everybody would have walked away.” 

Danny said the girl’s family bought the Honda Civic as a used car, but the date of the sale is not known yet. “The family was not aware of the recall before the crash.”

The Honda company first recalled Civic in 2011.

The company gave 6 recall notices but didn’t complete repairs, the agency said. Honda said in a statement that it mailed multiple notices to several registered owners.

A rep for the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Bryan Thomas said: “Automakers need to get creative and more aggressive about how they’re reaching these vehicle owners.”

He urged companies to do more than mailing notices and added that the agency plans to “get louder” in its calls for a higher recall completion rate.

“Honda has the best completion rate of the 14 automakers with vehicles in the Takata recalls”, Thomas said.

The Japanese company has made use of the social media to contact all car owners with the information that replacement parts are now available for inflator recalls. Honda gave the notification before this year.

NHTSA has warned the general public to use this crash as an important lesson. People are advised to get their Takata recall repairs made immediately.

Car owners can go to http://www.safercar.gov or CarComplaints.com and key in their vehicle identification number to check if the car needs a recall repaired and do so without delay.

According to Honda Problems website:

Parts supplier, Takata, manufactured defective, shrapnel-hurling airbag inflators that need to be recalled. The issue affects 34 million+ vehicles spread out across 24 brands, making it one of the largest (and most dangerous) recalls in automotive history.

The propellent Takata used is exploding with such force that it’s ripping the inflators into tiny metal fragments and shooting them in the direction of vehicle occupants. To make matters worse, the inflators are exploding in low-speed accidents with very little impact.

To date, the issue has been linked to 10 deaths.

Honda Vehicles Recalled for Takata Inflators: (Some Acura models has also been recalled but not provided in this list).

Make	Model	Years
Honda	Accord	2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 (4-cylinder) 2001, 2002 (V6)
Honda	Civic	2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
Honda	Civic Hybrid	2003, 2004, 2005
Honda	CR-V	2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016
Honda	CR-Z	2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Honda	Element	2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Honda	FCX Clarity	2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Honda	Fit	2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Honda	Insight	2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Honda	Odyssey	2002, 2003, 2004
Honda	Pilot	2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Honda	Ridgeline	2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014