Honda Malaysia Confirms Takata Airbag Ruptured in Deadly Crash

The mother was reportedly driving from Sri Gombak to Kota Damansara with her two sons, aged nine and 12, along with her 22-year-old niece. The three other passengers and the couple in the Mercedes escaped injury.

Police officers ruled out traffic or weather as part of the cause of the accident, which was confirmed by ACP Zani. According to Sungai Buloh Fire and Rescue Department senior officer Rosdi Hainan, the mother may have sustained injuries to her chest probably due to an object protruding from the centre of the steering wheel which also ruptured her airbag. Blood was also found in the car upon inspection.

Yesterday, Honda Malaysia released a statement confirming that the Takata airbag had indeed ruptured during the accident. The car involved was included in a list of Honda vehicles recall announced last week.

The recall was announced by Honda to replace the deadly front passenger airbag inflators. This recall affects 147,894 Honda vehicles in Malaysia and 50 million more globally. The cars listed for the recall are Honda Accord, Jazz, City, Civic, CR-V, Freed, Insight, and Odyssey. Click here for more information on the vehicles involved.

Takata is one of the key manufacturers of airbags in the world and it is reported that 13 deaths worldwide were linked to its faulty airbags. They are now struggling to deal with a defect that can send plastic and metal shrapnel from the inflator canister hurtling towards the driver or passenger when an airbag is deployed.

The sister of the deceased, Roslinya Latip spoke up about the incident on her Facebook page which has garnered over 1,800 shares at the time of posting. She expressed remorse over the incident saying that “who knew that a car that looked like it only sustained minor damages actually caused someone’s death”. She also pleaded to Honda to “not let the incident happen again” and urged the public to get their Honda cars inspected for their own safety.