Honda 76 articles

Kobe Steel, one of Japan’s largest metal manufacturers, admitted this week that it had falsified quality and durability data for at least 20,000 tons of steel it sold to manufacturers, which used the potentially inferior metals in cars, airplanes, rockets, high-speed trains, defense equipment and other products. “The credibility of Kobe Steel has plunged to zero,” Kobe’s chief executive, Hiroya Kawasaki, said after the company admitted first to falsifying data about the strength and durability of its aluminum and copper products and then to falsifying data about its iron ore powder. The apparent fraud came to light after the Central ... Read More

A Las Vegas teen who nearly died when the Takata airbag installed in her refurbished 2002 Honda Accord exploded is suing the salvage yard that sold the recalled airbag and the auto dealers who bought it for re-use. Eighteen-year-old Karina Dorado was driving home from work March 3 when her Honda Accord was rear-ended by another vehicle. What should have been a relatively minor rear-end collision, however, turned into a fight for life when the Takata airbag inside Ms. Dorado’s car exploded, puncturing her trachea with metal shrapnel. Now 19, Ms. Dorado had to spend several days in a trauma ... Read More

A Florida woman who died in a July 19 car crash may have been killed by a Takata airbag that exploded with deadly force. The crash occurred in Holiday, Florida, near St. Petersburg when a 34-year-old woman driving a 2002 Honda Accord collided head-on with a 1999 Pontiac Firebird. The Firebird was driven by a teen who turned into the Accord’s path, according to police reports. WFLA Channel 8 Tampa reports the woman driving the Honda was identified as Nichol Barker, 34, of Holiday. Ms. Barker was rushed to a local hospital where she died. The Associated Press reported that ... Read More

Police in Australia say a man who was killed this month in a car crash near Sydney likely died from shrapnel injuries he suffered from an exploding Takata airbag. If confirmed, the 58-year-old man’s death would be the 18th death worldwide linked to defective Takata airbag inflators and the first such death in Australia. The victim in this latest Takata airbag incident was driving a 2007 Honda CR-V in Cabramatta, just west of Sydney. Police sources offered little on the details of the crash but reports said the man died after being struck in the neck by a fragment of ... Read More

Another death has been blamed on an exploding Takata airbag, and the victim in this case wasn’t even a driver or a passenger but someone who was performing repairs on an idling 2001 Honda Accord. On July 10, Honda said it notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a fatal incident that occurred in Hialeah, Florida, on June 8, 2016, involving a ruptured Takata airbag. An individual, who was not the car owner, was performing unknown repairs on the Accord with the ignition turned on. The car was parked in the driveway of a private home and the ... Read More

Takata, the Japanese auto supplier that’s drowning in airbag recalls and lawsuits, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Japan, clearing the way for a Chinese-American manufacturer to buy its surviving operations for $1.6 billion. The deal was announced June 26 in Japan and effectively brings the 85-year old family-owned company to an end. Key Safety Systems, a Michigan auto supplier owned by Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corporation of China, said it is buying Takata’s manufacturing facilities. The buyout should position Key Safety Systems, which already manufactures airbags and other auto parts, as a frontrunner in the global airbag ... Read More

Shocked and saddened by her friend’s Takata airbag death, Southern California resident Araceli Cazales is on a personal mission to spread the word about the serious dangers that unrepaired Takata airbags pose to California motorists. According to KESQ Channel 2 Palm Springs, Ms. Cazales’ friend Delia Robles, a mother of three and grandmother of three, was killed when the Takata airbag in her 2001 Honda Civic exploded with deadly force in a car accident last September. Her death, caused by a spray of metal shrapnel from the airbag unit, is one of 11 deaths in the U.S. the government blames ... Read More

Takata Corp. and Honda are facing a new wrongful-death lawsuit filed in the United States by a Malaysian man whose wife was killed by shrapnel blasting from a defective Takata airbag. In his lawsuit, Dr. Abdullah Shamshir Abdul Mokti, a Malaysian national, says he wants the airbag manufacturer and Japanese automaker to disclose more about the dangers of the airbags, which are prone to deploy with deadly force in fender benders, parking lot bumps, and other minor collisions. Dr. Shamshir’s 29-year-old wife, Nida Fatin Mat Asis, who was also a doctor, died April 16, 2016, when her 2006 Honda City ... Read More

Honda Motor Corp. said Wednesday that an 18-year-old female was seriously injured in Las Vegas March 3 when the Takata airbag in her 2002 Accord exploded in a minor rear-end collision. The airbag rupture nearly killed Karina Dorado, a customer service call center worker, by puncturing her trachea. Trauma surgeons removed metal pieces of the Takata airbag and its housing from her neck and vocal cords, which were also damaged. She is still being treated for neck injuries. While automakers, federal regulators, and civic and municipal leaders are pushing car owners affected by the massive Takata airbag recall to have ... Read More

Civic and community leaders in the Los Angeles area have formed a coalition to urge motorists with vehicles affected by the Takata airbag recalls to have their airbag inflators repaired , saying hundreds of thousands of local residents continue to drive around with the potentially explosive airbags. The group is trying to convey to motorists what can happen if they fail to take the recall seriously. Speaking at a news conference at Los Angeles Trade Technical College in downtown Los Angeles, the group warned that airbags in millions of vehicles can deploy with lethal force and blast shrapnel from the ... Read More