PROTECTING THE LEGAL INTERESTS OF INJURED HAWAII RESIDENTS AND VISITORS SINCE 1973

Pickup driver’s death possibly related to defective products

On Behalf of | Jan 25, 2016 | Product Liability |

In Hawaii and throughout the nation, any number of things can cause a fatal motor vehicle accident. In some cases, defective products are to blame. In those circumstances, close loved ones who are left behind may have recourse through the civil court justice system.

In another state, the driver of a pickup truck was recently killed. The death cause of death has been blamed on an airbag rupture within the vehicle. Reportedly, this was the ninth such fatality associated with the type of airbag the truck contained. In fact, the Takata manufacturing company has already issued a major recall of its product. After the recent death, IT expanded that recall to include five million more airbag inflation devices.

The total number of devices that are now part of the recall is at least 28 million. The situation seems complicated because some vehicles apparently have different airbags on the drivers’ sides than those on the passenger sides of the same vehicles. With regard to the recent fatality, the passenger side airbag had already been recalled, but not the driver side device, which is the one that ruptured. The driver then lost control of the car and was killed in the subsequent crash.

More than 30 million vehicles in the United States are affected by the massive recall. In places like Hawaii, where humidity tends to be high, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has called for additional recalls. Anyone who believes that an immediate family member’s death was caused by defective products can seek information about filing a legal claim by contacting a product liability lawyer for consultation.

Source: freep.com, “Takata to recall 5 million more air bag inflators“, Greg Gardner, Jan. 22, 2016

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