Takata and Honda sued for death of Malaysian

The father of Law Suk Leh, who died when the Takata-made air bag in the Honda car she was driving malfunctioned in July 2014, is suing Takata and Honda on behalf of his daughter’s and granddaughter’s estates. 

Suk Leh was driving a 2003 Honda City with her husband in the passenger seat when their car was hit by another vehicle at an intersection. According to her husband’s account, it was more like a “bump” than a full-on collision. The impact was enough to cause the defective air bag to deploy, which then sent a piece of metal shrapnel slicing into Suk Leh’s neck. She was eight and a half months pregnant at that time and her daughter, delivered posthumously, passed away three days later. 

Read also: Honda US recalls 6 million vehicles with faulty Takata airbags

Suk Leh’s father, Law Ngee Chiong, filed the lawsuit last Thursday in the Miami federal court because the ‘defective inflator’ was made in LaGrange, Georgia, according to attorney Kevin Dean. Her death is the only one out of six that occurred outside of the USA; the same malfunction is believed to have caused at least 105 injuries.

It is believed that exposure to high humidity causes the air bag mechanism to deploy with too much force. Since 2008, 17 million vehicles with the faulty Takata air bags have been recalled (Suk Leh’s car was not amongst the vehicle models in the recall list).

Chiong’s lawsuit will be amongst about two dozen other cases to be presented before the district judge in Miami for pre-trial rulings and evidence-gathering. The attorneys of these cases filed a combined complaint against Honda, Takata and other automakers for concealing air bag defects.

image: autonews.com