Honda Malaysia has just released a statement to confirm that a Takata driver airbag inflator has indeed ruptured in a crash on 1st January 2018 in Selangor, Malaysia. The crash, unfortunately, resulted in the tragic death of the driver. The Royal Malaysia Police, however, has not determined the official cause of death.
The car in question was a 2004 Honda City which carried faulty Takata driver and passenger airbag inflators. The vehicle was included in a Product Recall campaign announced on 21 May 2015 to replace the faulty airbags. Several notification letters were sent out to the addressee in Honda Malaysia’s database, but the letters did not reach the current owner due to the change of ownership in between. The company confirmed that the recall replacement was never complete.
Honda Malaysia can also confirm that while the passenger airbag was due for a Product Recall, the passenger airbag inflator did not rupture and functioned in a proper manner in the crash. The company is communicating with the authorities and representative of the driver’s family and will not provide any personal information out of respect for the family.
Since the whole Takata airbag scandal started in 2015, Honda Malaysia has actively engaged owners to replace the faulty airbag inflators via the press, advertisements, roadshows, personal calls, SMS and direct mails. As of 25 January 2018, the company has completed 76 percent of driver and passenger front airbag inflator replacements.
For those of you still in the dark, the faulty airbag module, when deployed, will send metal shards towards the occupants and could cause even more harm than the accident itself. In some cases, even death! We have detailed in full on why you should get your faulty airbags replaced and product recalls are 100 percent free of charge.
You can check whether your Honda model is involved in a product recall by logging onto www.productrecall.honda.com.my or call their toll-free line at 1-800-88-2020.
