Takata Airbags

The class action lawsuit follows an investigation into Takata airbags launched by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration in June. The NHTSA issued a Consumer Advisory on October 22, 2014, urging owners of potentially affected vehicles to react immediately on recall notices to replace defective Takata airbags. According to the Advisory, reports of injuries and death allegedly resulting from Takata airbags date back to early 2013. According to a New York Times September investigative report, Honda learned of the alleged defect in 2004, when an airbag exploded in a Honda Accord in Alabama. The report states that what Honda deemed an anomaly soon mushroomed into a series of recalls, the first of which took place in 2008, when Honda recalled approximately 4,200 vehicles potentially containing defective airbags. The NY Times report also states that incident reports continued to be filed with Honda, and alludes to the fact that questions remain as to how these incidents were in turn reported to the NHTSA and other federal auto regulators. To date, Honda has issued nine recalls concerning the Takata airbags in Honda and Acura vehicles. Of the approximately 8 million vehicles recalled, about 5 million are Honda vehicles. In connection with its ongoing investigation, the NHTSA has requested that Honda, Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Nissan, and Toyota participate in voluntary field service actions, or regional recalls. According to correspondence sent to the NHTSA from these automakers, though each has agreed to conduct the field service actions, none have stated that a defect exists in any of the recalled vehicles. The regional recalls require automakers to recall certain model year vehicles registered in Florida, areas near the Gulf of Mexico and Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, and Hawaii, as well as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and Saipan.