US motorist killed by Takata airbag was contacted “more than 100 times” – report

The peak road safety authority in the US has reported yet another death to be caused by a faulty Takata airbag, more than nine years after the deadly devices were first recalled.

In 2013, carmakers across the world discovered certain airbags supplied by now-defunct Japanese company Takata could degrade over time, causing the airbag to expel metal shrapnel when deployed in a crash.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the faulty airbags have resulted in about 34 deaths and 350 serious injuries worldwide – with at least two people known to have been killed in Australia.

It is estimated 100 million cars from more than two dozen brands which were originally fitted with the Takata airbags have been recalled and fixed globally since 2013, although there are still vehicles on the road which have not had their potentially fatal devices removed.

In a media statement, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) – the peak authority for road safety in the US – reported the 22nd death in the country which was caused by a faulty Takata airbag.

According to NHTSA, the 2006 Ford Ranger (unrelated to the Australian-delivered ute) was involved in a crash in Florida in June 2022. When the driver’s airbag was deployed, the inflator ruptured, resulting in the fatal injuries to the driver.

NHTSA claims all 144,340 examples of the pick-up were issued with a ‘Do Not Drive’ notice in 2018, following the death of two other US motorists in similar circumstances. 

A spokesperson for Ford’s US operations told news agency Reuters the car-maker had “sent more than 100 notices to the owner's home for the recall, along with multiple text messages, and had a canvasser visit the home to try and schedule the repair for this vehicle”.

In March 2021, the ACCC reported 4.1 million faulty Takata airbags in 3.06 million cars had been replaced, representing ‘99.9 per cent’ of Australian cars originally equipped with the deadly item.

A spokesperson for the ACCC told Drive the completion rate is now 100 per cent.

This includes cars which are deemed to be compliant with their relevant recalls despite not having their airbags replaced, as they “have been scrapped, stolen or unregistered for more than two years”, or their owners have not been contactable.

In September this year, Mercedes-Benz Australia was ordered to pay penalties amounting to $12.5 million after the Federal Court found the car-maker had understated the risks posed by Takata airbags.

The legal action was instigated by the ACCC in August 2021, with the consumer watchdog accusing Mercedes-Benz of failing to use “attention-capturing, high-impact language when communicating with consumers about the compulsory recall of potentially deadly Takata airbags,” in at least 23 conversations between July 2018 and March 2020.