The first Takata airbag lawsuit has been filed in a South Carolina federal court over defective airbags found in Honda cars. The plaintiff claims to have sustained injuries from flying shrapnel after the airbag in her Honda deployed during an accident. An article by The State reports that the claim has been filed in a U.S. District Court in Columbia, South Carolina.
The plaintiff is a twenty-one-year-old woman who was injured in March of 2012 after rear-ending another car. The woman was driving a 2001 Honda Civic which has since been recalled for defective and potentially fatal airbags. In her Complaint, she claims that Honda did not make her aware of the concerns over the defective airbags until after her accident. The airbags in this and other recalled cars were made by Takata Corporation, a Japanese company. Honda has recalled over 5 million vehicles in the U.S. as a result of the Takata defective airbags.
The claimant alleges that the airbag sent sprays of sharp, metal shrapnel into her chest after deploying with excessive force. The woman was hospitalized after the crash and was forced to undergo two surgeries. She claims to live with severe trauma from the crash with permanent scarring of her chest and torso.
Honda was recently fined $70 million for concealing complaints about vehicle-related deaths and injuries. The company admitted to delaying reporting for an eleven-year period, beginning in 2003, and failing to report warranty claims that provided evidence of safety issues.
The South Carolina lawsuit names Honda, Takata, and related companies as defendants in the case. The woman is seeking actual and compensatory damages for the injuries, and compensation for pain and suffering, and long-term impairment caused by the defect. The lawsuit claims that the injuries could have been severely lessened or completely avoided were it not for the defective airbag system in place. It is not known at this time whether or not other, similar cases filed in federal court across the country will be combined before a single judge.
If your or a loved one suffered an injury from a defective airbag or another defect, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Contact an auto defect lawyer at Lopez McHugh to discuss your potential claim. Contact us at (877) 737-8525 for a free initial consultation.
