News, Safety

Takata Air Bag Rupture Injures Honda Fit Driver in Japan

Honda_Takata_SRS_Airbag

Honda has confirmed yet another case of a Takata airbag inflator rupture incident, which resulted in a minor injury involving a driver in Japan.

According to the Japanese automaker, the rupture occurred in the passenger-side air bag of one of its Fit (Jazz here) compact multi-purpose vehicles late last month. The airbag inflated with excessive force, spraying shrapnel into the car and causing light burns to the driver’s leg.

Takata had been notified of the incident by Honda, and said that it was working with the automaker to confirm details.

Takata’s dangerous airbag inflators, which use ammonium nitrate and don’t have a moisture-absorbing desiccant, can explode with excessive force in case of a crash and are responsible for 16 deaths and for more than 150 injuries worldwide including Malaysia. The defective parts, which equip more than 100 million cars globally, have led to the industry’s largest safety recall ever.

04 Honda technician replacing a Takata driver front airbag inflator

Closer to home, Honda Malaysia is working the best they can to make sure that all Honda vehicles in Malaysia with Takata airbag defective parts should be replaced as soon as possible to avoid more injuries or death.

The company has set up more locations for Takata front airbag inflator replacements from January to March 2017. On top of that, Honda Malaysia will introduce a mobile caravan to provide further convenience for affected customers to replace the affected Takata front airbag inflators. The mobile caravan will be going nationwide to provide on-the-spot replacements for affected customers and will be available 7 days a week.

Honda Malaysia is also increasing the operations of Mobile Hubs to 3 mall venues every weekend in the Central region, Johor Bahru, Kedah and Penang until March 2017. You can find out details of the latest locations of the added Mobile Hubs at shopping malls here.

Replacing the affected Takata front airbag inflator is FREE-of-charge and to find out if your Honda model is affected by the recall, click here.

Source: Reuters via Carscoops, Honda Malaysia