Get Your Damn Recalls Done!

A 17th person has died in the U.S. because of a faulty Takata airbag, according to Reuters. The biggest recall in automotive history has claimed yet another victim.

The victim was in a crash on August 20 in Mesa, Arizona. They were in a 2002 Honda Civic.

Here's the pertinent bit of Reuters' report:

Honda said the 2002 Civic had been under recall since December 2011 for replacement of the driver's frontal airbag inflator, while the passenger's frontal airbag inflator was recalled in 2014.

Honda sent more than 15 mailed recall notices over eight years to registered owners of the vehicle before the crash and made other attempts to contact owners. The driver killed was not the registered owner and Honda said it was not certain if the driver was aware of the unrepaired recalls.

The most recent previous fatal confirmed U.S. incident was the June 2018 death of a driver after the crash of a 2002 Honda Civic in Buckeye, Arizona.

What's particularly shitty here is that the killed driver was not the registered owner. They may have had no idea that they were driving in a car with a dangerous and recalled airbag still installed.

Here is a short video showing a Takata airbag explosion:

There have been 63 million recalls in the U.S. concerning Takata airbags, including airbags in the Honda Fit owned by yours truly, which were replaced a while ago amid one of many waves of recalls.

You can check to see if your car has any open recalls at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website. And you should! This story is a good reminder that recalls aren't just about you, the owner, but about anyone who might end up driving your car. Fundamentally, recalls are evidence that manufacturers fucked up in their corporate responsibility to build a safe car, but that doesn't excuse anyone from the own responsibility of getting their recalls done.