Takata and Honda may have known about the defective airbags for more than a decade
As early as 2001, if not earlier, Takata was allegedly aware of and had actual knowledge of the defect, but concealed it from the public. As early as 2004, if not earlier, Honda was allegedly aware of and had actual knowledge of the subject defect, but concealed it. Despite having knowledge of the subject defect, victims have alleged that they did not fully investigate or disclose the seriousness of the issue and downplayed the widespread prevalence and danger of the problem.
2001 Takata airbag explosion
According to reports, Takata may have first learned of its exploding airbag problem in 2001 when a Takata airbag exploded in a 2001 Isuzu. That explosion may have led to a recall due to the subject defect later that year.
Honda Defendants first learned of the exploding airbag problem in 2004, according to reports. According to Honda, “[t]he first known rupture of a Takata airbag occurred in Alabama” in 2004 and involved a 2002 Honda Accord. Hiroko Tabuchi, Takata Saw and Hid Risks in Airbags in 2004, Former Workers Say, N.Y. Times, Nov. 6, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/business/airbag-maker-takata-is-said-to-have-conducted-secret-tests.html.
2009 Honda airbag claims
In early 2009, Honda and Takata allegedly became aware of at least three more exploding airbag incidents in Honda vehicles that occurred due to the subject defect, including one woman who was seriously injured and two other women who died.
On or about April 27, 2009, Jennifer Griffin was severely injured while driving a 2001 Honda vehicle due to the subject defect. According to reports, the airbag in the vehicle exploded and sent a two-inch piece of shrapnel flying into Ms. Griffin’s neck. Although Ms. Griffin survived, when highway troopers found her, blood was gushing from the gash in her neck.
On or about May 27, 2009, Ashley Parham was killed while driving a 2001 Honda Accord due to the subject defect. According to reports, Ms. Parham’s car bumped into another car in a parking lot resulting in the airbag deploying and exploding. Metal shrapnel sliced opened her carotid artery and she bled to death while her brother observed from the backseat of the vehicle.
On or about December 24, 2009, Gurjit Rathore was killed while driving a 2001 Honda Accord due to the subject defect. Ms. Rathore’s neck was severed by metal shrapnel from the airbag inflator manufactured by the Takata Defendants.
More airbag injury and death cases continue to occur
On or about April 2, 2010, Kristy Williams was severely injured while driving a 2001 Honda Civic due to the subject defect. Ms. Williams’ carotid artery was severed when shards of metal propelled from an airbag manufactured by the Takata Defendants. Her loss of blood led to several strokes, a seizure, and a speech disorder.
On or about November 8, 2010, Suetania Emmanuel was severely injured while driving a 2002 Honda Civic due to the subject defect. Ms. Emmanuel’s face and throat were split open by shards of metal propelled from an airbag manufactured by the Defendants.
On or about March 8, 2012, Sharonda Blowe was severely injured while driving a 2001 Honda Accord due to the subject defect. Ms. Blowe suffered lacerations to the head and accompanying skull fractures when she was struck by shards of metal propelled from an airbag manufactured by the Defendants.
On or about February 12, 2013, Claudia Jana was severely injured while driving a 2001 Honda Civic due to the subject defect. Ms. Jana suffered burns to her leg by a piece of the airbag which shot out of a passenger dashboard and was on fire from an airbag manufactured by the Defendants.
On or about August 6, 2013, Joseph C. Nasworthy was severely injured while driving a 2005 Honda Civic due to the subject defect. Mr. Nasworthy suffered severe eye and nose lacerations when he was struck by shards of metal propelled from an airbag manufactured by the Defendants.
On or about September 1, 2013, Stephanie Erdman was severely injured while driving a 2002 Honda Civic due to the subject defect. Ms. Erdman was struck in the eye by metal propelled from an airbag manufactured by the Defendants.
On or about September 3, 2013, Hai Ming Xu (Devin Xu) was killed while driving a 2002 Acura TL sedan, a Honda vehicle, due to the subject defect. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Department report cited “apparent facial trauma due to foreign object inside air bag,” explaining further, “[t]he strength of the impact was high enough as to produce a sudden, strong movement of the brain inside the skull which produced the bleeding.”
On or about September 7, 2013, Damian Fernandez was severely injured due to the subject defect while driving a non-Honda vehicle equipped with an airbag manufactured by Takata. Mr. Fernandez was involved in a low-speed accident which resulted in the driver’s side airbag exploding with such force that a piece of metal shot through the steering wheel airbag and struck him in the leg, causing a large puncture wound requiring repair.
On or about October 12, 2013, Brandi Owens was severely injured due to the subject defect while driving a non-Honda vehicle equipped with an airbag manufactured by Takata. Ms. Owens was involved in a low-speed accident which resulted in the driver’s side airbag exploding with such force that it detached from the steering wheel and struck her in the face, causing her left eye to rupture.
On or about March 14, 2014, Susan Cosgrove was killed while driving another non-Honda vehicle equipped with an airbag manufactured by Takata due to the subject defect. Ms. Cosgrove was involved in a low-speed accident which resulted in injuries leading to her death.
On or about May 29, 2014, Corey Burdick was severely injured while driving a 2001 Honda Civic due to the subject defect. Mr. Burdick was struck in the eye by shards of metal propelled from an airbag manufactured by the Takata Defendants.
On or about July 7, 2014, Claribel Nunez was severely injured while driving a 2001 Honda Civic due to the subject defect. Ms. Nunez was injured when shards of metal from the airbag were propelled into her forehead.
In addition to the above, there may be thousands more incidents that remain unreported and/or under reported by Honda and Takata, or that were never reported by the victims or their attorneys.
Our law firm files first airbag lawsuit in Federal Court in Miami
Our law firm filed a lawsuit on behalf Claudia Jana in October 2014. That filing led to our appearance on the CBS Evening News and helped bring national attention to the rise in exploding airbag claims, and the danger to the public.
NHTSA more fully investigates Honda and Takata
On or about November 3, 2014, NHTSA started to fully investigate Honda and Takata's’ reporting failures. Specifically, the United States Department of Transportation (“DOT”), by and through the Secretary of Transportation, has delegated authority to the Chief Counsel of NHTSA by a “Special Order” dated November 3, 2014, to “open[] an Audit Query, AQ14-004, to investigate the extent and scope of certain EWR reporting failures by Honda, the reason(s) for such failures and the steps being taken by Honda to assure full compliance with TREAD reporting requirements.”
Honda and Takata Recalls
There have been several recalls and actions by the automakers and Takata over the past several years. Some of them, upon information and belief, are as follows:
According to our investigation, in November 11, 2008, in Recall 08V-593, Honda began a very limited recall for the subject defect. At that time, Takata and Honda allegedly stated that the defect was that “the driver’s airbag inflator could produce excessive internal pressure.” This recall occurred over four years after the first airbag explosive force or punch out incident in a Honda car. However, Takata and Honda concealed the magnitude of the subject defect by stating that the number of potentially affected vehicles was limited to around 4,000.
In July of 2009, in Recall 09V-259, Honda expanded the recall for the subject defect to include approximately 440,000 vehicles. In that recall, Takata and Honda changed their position as to the cause of the subject defect, claiming it was related to the process of pressing the propellant into wafers that were later installed into the inflator modules.
In August 2009, NHTSA Recall Management Division sent Honda an information request to explain why it did not include 2009 Recall vehicles in the 2008 Recall, and “to evaluate the timeliness of [Honda’s] recent defect decision.” NHTSA also wanted to know “the difference between the driver’s airbag inflators in those vehicles from the inflators in the 09V-259 vehicles and explain how this distinction, or any other between the two sets of vehicles, convinced [the Honda Defendants] at the time that it did not need to include the latter set in the 08V-593 recall population.”
NHTSA Recall Management Division further requested that Honda provide complaints, lawsuits, warranty claims, and field reports, along with an explanation of the “unusual deployments” and Honda’s investigative efforts.
In February 2010, in Recall 10V-041, Honda expanded the recall for the subject defect again — this time to include approximately 379,000 vehicles.
In December 2011, Honda informed NHTSA that it was going to expand the recall again to include additional vehicles which may have had suspect driver’s airbag modules installed either as original equipment or as a service part, because the automaker found out about another “energetic driver’s airbag deployment in which the inflator ruptured,” outside of the VIN range in previous recalls, and the inflator module itself was outside of “the suspect range previously identified by the supplier.” The recall was expanded to an additional 272,779 vehicles that had the subject defect from manufacture and an additional 603,241 vehicles that may have had replacement parts that suffered from the subject defect.
In April 2013, in Recall 13V132, Honda expanded the recall once again for the subject defect, this time adding 561,422 Honda Civics and describing the defect as “the passenger’s (frontal) airbag inflator could produce excessive internal pressure.”
On or about June 19, 2014, Honda launched three more inflator recalls for the subject defect: Recalls 14V-349; 14V-351; and 14V-359, under the guise of a Safety Improvement Campaign. In that campaign notice, Honda noted that the VIN range supplied by Takata might not have covered all affected vehicles. It also noted reports of “energetic” airbag deployments in vehicles in Florida and California. Honda described the defect as “the driver’s side (frontal) airbag inflator . . . could produce excessive internal pressure.”
On October 22, 2014, the NHTSA expanded the list of vehicles affected by the recall of defective Takata components to cover ten automakers and numerous car models, totaling nearly 8 million vehicles. Those automakers are BMW (627,615 potentially affected vehicles), Chrysler (371,309 potentially affected vehicles), Ford (58,669 potentially affected vehicles), General Motors (undetermined number of potentially affected vehicles), Honda (5,051,364 potentially affected vehicles), Mazda (64,872 potentially affected vehicles), Mitsubishi (11,985 potentially affected vehicles), Nissan (694,626 potentially affected vehicles), Subaru (17,516 potentially affected vehicles) and Toyota (877,000 potentially affected vehicles).
In May 2015, Takata and the National Transportation Highway Safety Administration announced that Takata increased the number of recalled airbags to nearly 34 million, making it one of the largest product recalls in US history.
While we try to keep up to date on the latest airbag recalls, please check your VIN to see if your car has been called up for recall. Have your vehicle inspected regularly to check your airbag for signs of rust or corrosion, or other material changes to the airbag's structure.