Airbag Deaths Rise To 8 In U.S., NHTSA Expands Investigation

There have been eight deaths 98 injuries in the U.S. due to faulty airbags, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced Thursday. Car owners should immediately check air bags manufactured by Takata Corp. and seek swift proper repairs so they could avoid the high risk of injury due to exploding air bags, the NHTSA said.

NHTSA officials said the high number of injuries was caused by exploding inflators that are triggered with strong force that could expel shrapnel to drivers and even passengers, according to the Associated Press.

Out of 19.2 million automobiles in the United States, 23.4 million Takata-branded air bags have been recalled to avoid further accidents. Less than a quarter of the these inflators, about 22.5 percent, have been repaired as of Oct. 9.

The eight deaths all happened in Honda vehicles, but the NHTSA is expanding the air bag death and accidents investigation to other vehicle brands, such as General Motors and Volkswagen.

Regulators still have not identified why the airbags explode, but an angle that they are considering is rising temperatures. They have observed that cars exposed to hot climates for a minimum of five years are more prone to exploding air bags. Thus, they have suggested that weather conditions should be considered as an element in airbag failure, according to USA Today.

NHTSA Chief Mark Rosekind said that guaranteed standard repairs of these airbags should be regulated, and that it entails cooperation and responsibility among the manufacturers so they can avoid further airbag deaths.

"If there wasn't coordination, this could be chaos," Rosekind said, according to the Wall Street Journal. "There is, frankly, enough confusion, as it is. If we were just letting this happen at...its own pace, who knows what would be happening?"

Takata Corp. President Shigehisa Takada apologized in June for the airbag deaths and accidents.

"I apologize for not having been able to communicate directly earlier, and also apologize for people who died or were injured," Takada said, according to Bloomberg. "I feel sorry our products hurt customers, despite the fact that we are a supplier of safety products."

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Takata Air Bags, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Nhtsa