Two Honda drivers have lost their lives in separate crashes, possibly linked to the problematic Takata airbag inflators, which could raise the total deaths to 13, including 10 in the United States.
An official cause of death has yet to be determined for the two latest accidents that occurred in Honda City cars in Malaysia, on April 26 and May 1, respectively, but in both cases, the driver-side airbag inflators were ruptured, confirmed by Honda during an inspection with the Royal Malaysia Police.
"Honda Malaysia is working with the local authorities to get the database of current owners of these cars and communicate with them on the recall", said Honda Malaysia's spokesperson, Jordhatt Johan, quoted by AutomotiveNews.
An eight-and-a-half-months pregnant woman is the first known death linked to Takata's airbags, in Malaysia. The driver lost her life two years ago, following a collision that set the airbag off, which sent a 1-inch shard of metal into her neck.
In the United States, 10 people have been killed by the problematic airbag inflators that use ammonium nitrate, a cheap but volatile explosive, and lack a drying agent, which leads to degrading over time due to exposure to environmental moisture and wide temperature fluctuations.