Arizona man killed by Takata airbag

The Takata airbag issue has again claimed a life, taking the confirmed toll to 24 people.

Armando V. Ortega, a 55-year-old Arizona man, was killed by an exploding Takata airbag inflator and died on June 11, 2018 in hospital. Three days before, he was involved in a crash in his 2002 Honda Civic.

Ortega is the 16th person in the US to die from injuries caused by the airbags. They can explode with too much force and shrapnel can come out and hit drivers and passengers.

It has been reported that more than 200 people have been injured by the inflators. Seven people were killed in Malaysia and one in Australia.

The US will be recalling as many as 70 million inflators by the end of 2020. This is the largest series of automotive recalls in US history.

Ortega had purchased the Honda Civic less than three months before his death. The US law doesn’t specify that used car sellers have to inform buyers of any problems.

Honda says they did not know the car had been sold until recently. Ortega’s Civic has been under recall since December 2014 due to a faulty driver’s front airbag inflator. Honda made more than 20 phone calls to try and reach the owners, but repairs were never done. They are urging people to get recalled vehicles repairs as soon as they can.

Ortega’s death wasn’t reported to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration until March this year. Honda says older vehicles, especially models from 2001 to 2003, are most vulnerable.