The Japanese company Takata Corporation has been providing air bags to car manufacturers all around the world for many, many years now. It’s only within the past year or two that it’s been revealed that these Takata air bags are defective products that can cause serious injury or even death.
People have been hurt in accidents all over the world from these air bags. Apparently, it’s been happening for over 20 years.
Meanwhile, for literally DECADES, these air bags have been hurting and killing people. It’s not known right now how many people suffered over the years from these exploding air bags. Injuries caused by the exploding air bags have been attributed to all sorts of things — even criminal assaults in some cases, since the slashing injuries suffered by the victims can look similar to knife wounds.
How Takata Air Bags Hurt People
The Takata air bags are known – now – to cut drivers and passengers with sharp metal and plastic pieces that hit like battlefield shrapnel within the car’s interior as the air bag’s metal holder breaks apart when the air bag explodes. How?
It’s believed that the air bags are defective because too much air is pushed into the air bag when it is signaled to inflate. The enormous volume of air being forced into the air bag result not only in the air bag blowing apart, but also destroying its metal and plastic case. The metal and plastic component breaks into bits, which are carried in the explosion’s force into surrounding objects: seats, dashboard, interiors, and the bodies of any passenger as well as the driver.
Takata has not confirmed this. Takata claims that it’s still investigating what is happening in these air bag explosions. It has pointed a finger at weather factors, like humidity and moisture, contributing to the problem. Takata has not agreed to a national recall of its product.
Honda Hit With Historic $70 Million Fine
Meanwhile, the federal government has been pushing the manufacturer for that national recall. And the federal government is demanding millions in fines from car makers, too.
Honda was recently fined $70,000,000 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for failing to promptly act regarding the Takata air bags endangering its buyers.
This $70 Million Fine was the largest fine that the NHTSA ever imposed on a car maker by the agency.
Were You Hurt or in a Crash Caused by a Takata Air Bag?
From NHTSA, there is an online list of the BMWs, Chryslers, Dodges, Fords, Pontiacs, Hondas, Acuras, Mazdas, Mitsubishis, Nissans, Saabs, Infiniti, Subaru, and Toyotas, that are at risk of accident and injury because of a Takata air bag and anyone driving one of these vehicles is urged to take immediate action. Go to SaferCar.gov to find out if your car, or the car in which you were hurt, has a Takata airbag problem.
And if you were involved in an auto accident where you or a loved one suffered knife-like cut injuries and they were explained away as being caused by something else, then you may need to investigate whether or not the Takata air bag was the real cause of the accident and if there are legal claims to advance based upon the product defect.
