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Defective auto part acknowledged as cause of PA teen’s death

Posted in Products Liability on Thursday, January 7, 2016.

It’s all but impossible to avoid the seemingly constant reports of people being injured or killed due to an issue with a defect in an automobile. A large portion of these has had to do with a faulty air bag manufactured by Takata. While many dangerous products can cause consumer injuries, mistakes made when building motor vehicles takes on greater importance because, if there is a mistake made, it can very easily result in the death of the consumer. Those who have been affected or believe they might have been affected by these mistakes need to hold the manufacturers accountable.

An accident that killed a teenager in July of 2015 was acknowledged to likely have been due to the air bag in the vehicle rupturing. This fatality was the eighth known death in the U.S. because of this issue. The inflators in the Takata-manufactured air bag have caused injuries and deaths to people in the vehicles. The vehicle was a 2001 model and had been recalled. After the crash and rupture, the teen was hospitalized and died days later.

The air bag manufacturer has already paid a fine of $70 million due to the safety violations and might have to pay as much as $130 million in a settlement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA is taking steps to try and corral this problem by naming a former official in the U.S. Justice Department to monitor and assist industry regulators in handling the recall related to the faulty air bags. When the air bag deploys, the defective auto part has the propensity to send metal shrapnel into the passenger compartment. All known vehicles in which there was a fatality were Hondas.

When a person purchases a vehicle, the last thing that they consider is that it is dangerous due to a design defect. An auto design defect can lead to severe injuries and death. If there is a crash that is suspected to have resulted in injury or death because of a defective auto part, speaking to a legal professional is important when considering seeking compensation via a legal filing.

Source: Insurance Journal, “Honda Reports 9th Death Linked to Takata Air Bag,” David Shepardson, Jan. 4, 2016