Defective Airbag Injury Legal News Articles & Interviews

Santa Clara, CA: German airbag manufacturer ZF TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. and six major automakers have been slammed with class action defective airbag lawsuits alleging ZF TRW airbags are defective. The defective airbags have been linked to at least eight deaths and several serious injuries.

Los Angeles, CA: The chances of a defective Takata airbag exploding and firing metal shards at you, even in a minor fender bender, increase with rising temperatures. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says many people driving unsafe cars, including Honda, Ford and Mazda, haven’t grasped the recall’s urgency.

Miami, FL: Of about 50 million Takata defective airbags being recalled, some vehicles are more dangerous than others, according to the US. Department of Transportation. And some places have a greater potential to cause inflator ruptures—heat and humidity are risk factors.

Miami, FL: If you received an “owner notification letter” from your car dealership regarding a defective airbag and there was a problem getting a replacement inflator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says supply problems are over. But the Center for Auto Safety states that only a fraction of car owners have acted, with nearly 60 percent of inflators untouched. That statement, however, may not be completely accurate.

Oklahoma City, OK: With the revelation earlier this year that yet another victim of Takata airbag injuries had died, it’s instructive to look back at the case of Ashley Parham, widely believed as the first known victim of a defective airbag in 2009.

Washington, DC Takata airbag failures have already killed 22 people and injured nearly 200 more. The ensuing lawsuits and recalls affect nearly 13 percent of registered vehicles in the United States (and as many as a third of the cars on the road in Australia). It was the largest automotive recall in history, and it drove the company into bankruptcy.

Santa Cruz,CA: Takata, the Japanese maker of airbags that contained defective inflators, which caused injuries and more than a dozen deaths of drivers and passengers, has reached a settlement to pay tort claimants.

Holiday, FL: Airbags were originally designed to help prevent injury and death, not cause them. However, the debacle that is the Takata airbag recall– the largest automotive recall in US history – continues to cause sometimes horrific airbag injuries, and on occasion airbag deaths.

Baton Rouge, LA Another death has been revealed from faulty Takata defective airbags after a man from Louisiana succumbed to his airbag injuries following a crash in July. The death has been confirmed by Honda, the manufacturer of the car the victim was driving when the accident took place. The death, revealed to Honda and the media late last month, brings to 20 the number of deaths worldwide that have been attributed to the problematic airbags.

Orlando, FL:At the beginning of last year, Takata—the automotive parts company behind the largest automotive recall in the nation’s history—entered into a plea agreement with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). The company then declared bankruptcy a few months later, setting off an avalanche of legal filings throughout the world, with an international corporate restructuring effort continuing to this day. “It’s critical to remember that as this process plays out, consumers have and will continue to be hurt and killed by rupturing airbags,” says attorney Frank Melton of Newsome Melton, PA.