It’s the sort of news that you don’t want to hear happening, but the inevitability is overwhelming. Honda Malaysia a few minutes ago issued a statement regarding two ruptures of Takata driver’s airbags here in Malaysia. Both crashes resulted in the death of the drivers. No official cause of death has been determined for either case.
In the first incident which happened on 16 April 2016, a crash in Sabah involving a 2006 Honda City resulted in the rupture of the driver’s airbag inflator. The vehicle involved was included in a product recall announced on 21 May 2015, requiring replacement of the single stage inflator (SDI) of the driver’s side front airbag.
The second crash happened just a few days ago on 1 May 2016. This time, the Honda City was from the model year 2003. Similarly, the said car was involved in a product recall announced on 8 December 2014, requiring replacement of the SDI inflator of the (Takata) driver’s front airbag.
Honda Malaysia is currently communicating with the deceased’s families in order to resolve their remaining concerns.
As for vehicles which has been announced to be involved in any recall – particularly those which are safety related, which any Takata airbag-related certainly are – Honda Malaysia urges the respective owners to get their vehicles repaired at authorised dealers as soon as possible.