A Malaysian woman was killed in a collision in July involving her 2003 Honda City which contained a defective airbag, Honda Motor Co confirmed today. The problematic safety component manufactured by Japanese parts maker Takata Corp has been at the centre of a series of massive recalls worldwide since the issue surfaced in 2008.
The improperly-manufactured airbag inflator ruptured in the accident, which sent shrapnel flying inside the car, some of which hit the driver. Honda is currently conducting an investigation to find out if the airbag was the cause of the death. If so, this would be at least the fifth such incident, and the first outside the United States.
Honda has also widened its ongoing worldwide recall involving the aforementioned airbag inflator to include another 170,000 units of the Jazz, City and Civic in Asia and Europe, bringing the total number of cars affected by Takata’s exploding airbag recall to 14.3 million, 6.2 million of which are Hondas. At the moment, it is unclear which exact model years are being recalled.
The problem on the latest recall – the 10th announced by Honda so far – has been traced to a conveyor at Takata’s now-defunct US plant in LaGrange, Georgia which had malfunctioned, exposing the propellant tablets left on the belt to moisture. Such moisture could cause the explosives to become unstable, detonating with excessive force during a collision.
The 2003 Honda City model (like the one involved in the fatal accident) was already included in Honda Malaysia’s recall over the same issue in June, along with the 2001-2003 Stream, 2002-2003 Jazz and 2003 Accord. Last year, UMW Toyota recalled 18,700 units of the 2000-2003 Camry and Corolla Altis, while Edaran Tan Chong Motor (ETCM) recalled four units of the CBU first-generation Nissan X-Trail.
Takata’s airbags are the focus of a US regulatory probe amidst global vehicle recalls over the past six years, and have been linked to at least four deaths in the US and several injuries. According to a recent Reuters report, Takata has changed the composition of its airbag propellant, and this updated mix is used in replacement airbags fitted to recalled cars.
If you own any of the cars affected, it is imperative to send them in to be repaired as soon as possible, and to stay away from the front passenger seat until the issue has been resolved.
Further reading:
Takata changes composition of airbag propellant, denies defects in original composition – report
Takata to be prosecuted in the US over exploding airbags, owners urged to fix affected cars immediately
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
What about MITSUBISHI cars ??
Mitsu uses takata airbags too?
DRB you are responsible for Mitsubishi cars… Why are you keeping quiet ?
DRB has no sense of social responsibility or simply ignoring their responsibility altogether ?
Drb import the airbag from mexico and all license car manufacture that produce honda,nissan and toyota around the world using that airbag, so u cant blame drb for this. Thank god perodua and proton dont use that airbag
Proton’s airbag don’t work so no problem
Toyota and Honda cars recall for safety issue also Kiasu people said no problem..
Does mitsu cars use takata airbags?
If they do, shouldn’t mitsubishi inform first as parent company? No announcement so far, and no news of proof people died of mitsubishi car airbags.
Those proven dysfunctional are Toyota and Honda.
Are you fearmongering?
It’s mentioned in an earlier article on paultan.org that Mitsubishi uses Takata airbags as well, along with a whole bunch of other automakers.
Thank you for your explanation. I apologize for my ignorance.
It is really ironic that the faeture that meant to protect the driver killed the driver instead.
Airbag becomes air shrapnel.
A bomb waiting to explode in your car.
I had though airbag are harm-proof like balloon.
Airbags have to be filled with gas, and they are quite hard, though not as hard as a steering wheel. If you put a nice comfy pillow in front of the airbag the head will just go straight through it and hit the steering wheel hard. Sometimes it happens that the airbag is too soft, and the head still hits the dashboard or steering wheel.
To fill up the airbag so fast you need to have an explosion, because otherwise by the time the airbag opens the head has already hit the steering wheel.
bad news for Honda just when they got the top spot
its their old car,
source of the problem not only affect Honda..
also Nissan, Toyota.
the main problem is Takata airbag,
The proper question is …
Only Honda make the recall ?
This is begin to get worrying
Is either I get killed by the airbags in my City
Overturn because my Alza has no VSC(not to mention shitty brakes)
Or accept fate and chukkle along in my safety-less 1990 Saga.
Either way, There have been many incidents of Takata airbags succefully deploying, so what are the odds of a defunct airbag? 1 in 50? 500? 5000?
That’s the thing…
By the way, why haven’t you got your airbags replaced in the City yet?
How to replace? Its not something I can pop into Brothers and ‘ Yo! Boss, 1 replacement airbags for City please’
Honda hasne’t issued the recall for the 2010MY City… in fact, they never issued any recall for post 2007 model cars, same goes for all cars with Takata Airbags.
Eh wait, the City you have, is not the first batch with airbags one?
I think the only ones that are actually affected are the pre 2004 cars, after that there were no reported cases…
Yeah, AVH mentioned somewhere before that his City (haha) is the previous gen City.
I recommend your Alza, because the steel cage can still protect you :)
Saga have old steel cage design, will be crushed more easily.
City, airbag shrapnel kill you within steel cage.
Another way is to wear full face helmet in City :D
The City will avoid any crash at all, trust me, driving the Alza the City feels planted… I recently driven an old (big-small eyes) E-class, The City’s chassis felt composed as that in the wet but none of the fitness and creamy performance deliver. The Alza feels like you’re driving a Unicycle, every wet patch slides the car out and about.
The Saga? It has much better responds and feedback than the Alza and also no where as fast. But if you know how to prevent the brake from lockup, it brakes better than the Alza.
All in all, the Alza is the car with the highest chance of me crashing it, with the City safest. Even if you factor in the City’s dangerous shrapmill of doom, I’d say I have a higher chance in it. And I f I am really worried, I’ll just try to hit something hard enough at the bumper to activate the airbags, tha fork out the replacement bags and repairs, but I am not that rich….BTW what airbags does Perodua uses?
Perodua most likely uses something from Autoliv or something, Autoliv manufacturers them locally.
Interesting a new Perodua one is about 5k I think for a pair. Remember many complaining the Myvi ones were easily stolen.
The odds are very, very small, but still this shouldn’t happen, and it happened because of greed.
All those safety features are nice to have, but ultimately it is the responsibility of the driver to drive extra carefully and drive according to speed limit and rules.
This is a very serious issue, what is Honda Malaysia doing about it?
Issuing a recall is one half of the story. The thing is, these cars are now well over 10 years old. Many are no longer in the first hand owners, even those that are, many would have moved house, hence Honda MY’s database is hopeless to track them down. Plus, as we all know, unlikely many are regularly serviced at a Honda dealer.
The solution? Honda just needs to get the list of VIN numbers of the vehicles affected, run full page ads and inform the public the reason why it has to be replaced ASAP. At the same time, they can go to the JPJ and request for the list of addresses and contact number or some form of way contacting the current owner of the car and get hold of the owners. The VIN will never change, and JPJ will have the latest owner contact list.
Honda needs to be proactive and take action fast. An airbag is supposed to save you.
I totally agree with you. It would be good if paultan.org on behalf of us car owners seek a statement from these car companies for clarification whether our cars are safe for use. It looks like no official statement has been given by any car companies in Malaysia and the least we can do is to force them to perform the necessary recalls or safety checks
paultan.org doesn’t need to do that. It is not safe, period. In actual fact, if you read the manual, it says if there is an airbag fault, do not drive the car, have it checked at the nearest dealer.
In actual fact, manufacturers should come and tow the cars, have the part replaced before allowing people to drive it. And bill it to Takata.
Honda Malaysia owes all Honda owners a statement declaring whether a recall is necessary and not wait until public or authorities push them to do so. Social responsibilities of a reputed company like Honda is so dissapointing. Anyone knows the email of some high officials in Honda Japan so we can send our complaints ?
The irony is when the original recall was out, it was exactly 1 month before the accident happened and killed the victim.
Honestly, while there is nothing much you can do to replace the person, I really hope Honda, and all the manufacturers take Takata to court and sue the living daylight out of them. For a company that specialises in such highly precise safety equipment, it is appalling that they could have such kinds of oversights in their production, and not take any random samples out of the production batch to test…?
Manufacturers are no angels too. In Malaysia, the tidak apa attitude is running high, recall? Still working no need to change what!
That, is the Malaysian mentality. It’s different among auto guys/girls, we know the real story.
And by the way, don’t waste your time, I tried emailing Hyundai Korea on a serious brake issue on a model currently on sale which dealers are refusing to report, all I got was the email got forwarded to the Malaysian branch, and they asked for my contact details but never got back to me after that to ask about the problem. My follow up emails to them went unanswered. What a joke.
If u guys noticed, this announcement was made by Honda Motor Co in Japan. Not Honda Malaysia.
Honda Malaysia, UMW, Tan Chong all couldn’t give a flying fark about your cheap life. After all, die die also Malaysian still queue to buy their cars.
“Only 2 airbags? they think our life very cheap ah? I dont want to die in such unsafe cars”
Sounds familiar?
Alot of car enthusiasts thinks air bags are the ultimate answer to safety.
The best safety devices would never beat the one behind the wheel, in other words I’d rather be in a car devoid of safety gadgets but with a careful and experienced driver than in a car full of airbags, vsc, abs, ebd, ba, tc with a clueless overconfident driver fueled by a false sense of security that all those devices can save life
Misused and misunderstanding of safety devices can be more harmful and dangerous than not having.
I overheard people sayings that they can now tailgate closer because they have ABS which can shorten braking distances
Not-so-smart-oredi rakyat is everywhere, it can’t be helped.
Thank god the airbag, ABS, VSC, etc. is there to protect the real smart rakyat and good drivers.
Safety features not to protect the tailgaters, but protect the one being tailgated.
While I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments that drivers are ultimately responsible for safer roads, this incident does not detract from the effectiveness of safety devices that are working properly. Neither do bad drivers who misunderstand the purpose of the safety devices detract from the effectiveness and usefulness of the said safety devices.
To the uninitiated, the safety devices can be thought of as safety nets.
Face it:
There are neither perfect drivers (you and I included) nor perfect conditions on the road (from things like road surface, visibility, unexpected obstacles, other drivers).
If you’ve made a mistake, the ESP systems and chassis balance will aid you in your attempts to avert an accident and if that isn’t enough or if circumstances are such that collision is inevitable, passive safety systems are designed to mitigate the injury done to the occupants.
On the other hand, if some other road user made a mistake, you might still be able to dodge the hazard if your reaction and judgement is quick enough (for some people that is impossible and they might make matters worse by dodging). Otherwise, collision is inevitable and it’s up to the passive safety systems to minimize harm, if at all possible, depending on the force of the impact.
These devices are not foolproof. ESP does not guarantee that you won’t spin out but it will greatly reduce the chances of you spinning out, if it’s working properly. ABS doesn’t exactly reduce the distance of braking either. It only allows people without skill in threshold braking and/or cadence braking to lock up their wheels (and therefore, lose control of their vehicle) during heavy braking in slippery conditions (it’s quite hard to have wheel lock on dry asphalt unless you’re braking from crazy speeds. Or you have the habit to abruptly slam the brakes real hard).
Salespeople might have neglected to educate their prospective customers properly with regards to their intended purpose and proper use while some drivers are always, always hellbent on showing off their “pro” driving skills on public roads.
Safety devices are, indeed, effective. Statistics show. However, your concern can be somewhat addressed by proper and comprehensive driver education. ‘Somewhat’ because sometimes, circumstances beyond our control are what causes some accidents. That and there are stupid drivers out there.
I hope you understand what I’m trying to say because I spent like 30mins typing all this and I’ll be very sad if it’s all in vain.
Oops, typo. Correction below:
…ABS doesn’t exactly reduce the distance of braking either. It only prevents people without skill in threshold braking and/or cadence braking from locking up their wheels (and therefore, lose control of their vehicle) during heavy braking in slippery conditions…
Appreciate the time spent in writing a respond
I sure do understand and it’s what I ought to have put it properly.
All these safety devices should only be secondary, as no amount of safety device will help, save a reckless driver or foolproof as you said
However the way people here seems to put it,
“omg no vsc I’m gonna die by driving or riding passenger”
“omg no airbags I’m gonna die by driving or riding passenger”
The way people put here is like by having airbags or vsc you won’t die in an accident
Effectiveness of these devices also hinges on tyre condition and road condition.
I bet none of those salesman tells them that ABS VSC can prevent a car’s wheels from locking up thus slipping but not when the wheels are aqua planning
And you can distinguish which ones are being brainwashed by marketing talk
Back when VSC was first introduced in cars, certain publications were ranting about how having vsc take away the fun in driving how blunt the steering felt and so forth.
The next moment a lot of so called “car enthusiast” start telling people not to buy cars with vsc as these cars are boring and one paid so much for a car to have its capabilities dumbed down by dumb electronics.
Fast forward to a few years ago, certain publication were ranting that how unsafe cars can be without vsc, suddenly all “car enthusiasts” are afraid to buy cars without vsc and as if riding I one will mean instant death
Then they start painting a picture where by having vsc one won’t die in a car fitted with it
That is the unfortunate situation we have come to, brought about by the complexity of human societal mindset and thinking in the absence of proper driver education. Perhaps one day, everyone will understand the proper usage. Perhaps it’ll come down to us average Joe’s with a bit of knowledge of educate those around us.
I also agree with your exasperation when you read statements such as “no vsc? moving coffin” as I am also exasperated when reading such overgeneralizations. It’s sadly a side-effect of the drive towards raising awareness for the importance of these safety features. Some people just take it a too far with their wording and/or misconceptions.
ESC does help when it counts, though. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been made mandatory in Europe and the US and they’ve produced statistics which show that it does help prevent what could otherwise have been collisions. It has even been touted as the most important thing after having safety belts. That’s why there is this push to raise awareness and force manufacturers to at least put it into their whole range of cars, if not all variants. Paul Tan is quite a supporter of ESC-equipped cars.
That said, I can still see traces of the car enthusiast mentality that you mentioned which shuns ESC and there would always be people wanting to switch it off for drifting reasons but that’s another story altogether.
Just to add my two cents. There are also few things that changed in Malaysia in the 50 years of merdeka that need be considered as well as the people’s mindset.
-more cars now
-more teenagers driving
-more motorcycles and lorries too
-more highways, and triple/quadruple lanes
-more better road, not the snaky criss-cross old road you can still see between Rawang and Batang Berjuntai. Now a lot of straight roads;
-meaning more higher cruising speed
-more people using faster cars and driving faster
-still same rain, hazardous. More flash floods apparently.
-better media coverage, thus one bus accident in MMR2, whole Malaysia know. Feeds the people’s paranoia.
Right on! This explains why many car owners who drive the old Proton Saga and Kancil for years and still not involve in serious crashes and died.
Old cars and old pakcik makcik drive slow.
You know, the one we always curse in the highway, driving so slow oldman but take middle lane.
They got granchildrens, no need chase life.
Its the new-gen that we need to worry. Always need to be fast, save time, late for work, want to avoid traffic, etc. The youngsters with modified Kancil Turbo driving like there’s no tomorrow, and the super-black tinted Mercedes blazing fast AES is too cheap like paying snack fees.
The fault seems to be at the manufacturer of the airbags – who makes the airbags for Proton Exora (2011 make \)?
Autoliv
I think it is a good thing Honda start to do recall for it’s vehicles. So this is the fifth fatal case involving the Takata airbag. That may sound just a bit in fact millions of cars on the road using the same airbag made by Takata Corp. The cars are getting old (e.g City ’03) and probably most of the car that use Takata airbags system now already worn out. Airbags can save one’s life, but if it is defected and you didn’t check whether it will explode properly, it can take one’s life quite easily.
Fortunately the airbag was manufactured in USA as the gov of USA has forced Takata to take full responsibility of the failure. If the airbag was made in Malaysia, no company will admit the mistake, yet blamed on the driver and our gov will support the company. And more stupid open comments from the ministers will surface in the newspaper with regard to bad driving habits, but not becoz of the airbag blunder. huhu
If manufacture in Malaysia, most likely it is a joint venture with some very influential cronies, and the case will ‘tutup’, unless of course those airbags are exported to Europe and USA.
so, which is safer now?
1. to drive cars with airbag, but did not not deploy upon a collision strong enough to trigger?
2. to drive cars with airbag, airbag deploy accordingly but u died because airbag ruptured – like in this case?
3. to drive cars with airbag, and airbag deployed suddenly without collision while driving on smooth surface at town speed? ref Alfa 146ti in 96-97, before recall made to replace ECU.
lets not start to mention others – those car makers know better
OR
4. drive a car without airbag, drive at a reasonable safe speed to slow or stop within short distance and prevent collision?
hihihi… everyone commenting in paultan will one 9 airbags, ABS and ESP. i am open to bashing. its a peaceful life driving my 1993 Iswara Cares EFI.
4
4
so…
is it free to change the airbag or change it using our money ?