In two different traffic crashes in Malaysia, two persons died because Takata air bag inflators exploded with too much force, ABC News reported.
On April 16 occurred the first crash in Sabah state, Malaysia, where a driver’s inflator on a 2006 Honda City ruptured in the crash, the company said. The second crash took place more recently, May 1, and involved a 2003 Honda City.
In both crashes, Honda officials inspected the cars with the Royal Malaysia Police. They determined that the driver’s inflator had ruptured, according to Honda.
On a statement released on Wednesday, Honda said that in both incidents drivers’ airbag inflators were involved in older Honda City small cars. Authorities have yet to determine the exact cause of either death.
If authorities confirm that these two people’s death was caused by Takata inflator, the worldwide death toll will be 13. A number of 11 people were killed worldwide due Takata inflator, and more than 100 people have been injured, ABC News reported.
These cars’ inflators are able to blow apart a metal canister, which sends shrapnel into drivers and passengers. These inflators are not used in the U.S or Canada, but in Asia they are pretty common, the automaker said. Honda claimed that the cars in both crashed were under recall due the faulty Takata inflators, still the repairs hadn’t been made yet. The car involved in the first crash was part of a recall announced on May 21, while the second car was was recalled on Dec. 8, 2014.
Takata is likely to recall more inflators
Both Honda and Takata offered condolences to the families. Honda affirmed to be communicating with the victims’ families and out of respect would not provide further information related to the drivers involved in the crash, while Takata said it is working with Honda to determinate the facts of the crashes.
After the news of the two deaths in Malaysia, U.S authorities announced that the size of the Takata recall in the U.S is more than double. However, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration assured that the announcement is not related to the crashes in Malaysia. NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind will hold a news conference to make the announcement on Wednesday afternoon.
With more than 35 million inflators that are likely to be recalled, this will represent the largest automotive recall in U.S. history at 28.8 million inflators, according to three people briefed on the matter, who requested anonymity because the official announcement has not yet been made.
Source: ABC News