Honda settles air-bag case for $85M

NEW YORK — Honda has reached an $85 million settlement with a number of states over allegations that it hid safety failures in the air bags of certain Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the U.S.

The settlement ties up an investigation into Honda’s alleged failure to inform regulators and consumers of issues related to the significant risk of rupture in the frontal air-ag systems installed in certain cars, which could cause metal fragments to fly into the passenger compartments.

The systems were designed and made by Takata Corp. Problems with Takata’s products touched off the largest string of automotive recalls in U.S. history with around 50 million inflators recalled. About 100 million are being recalled worldwide.

The ruptures have resulted in at least 14 deaths and more than 200 injuries in the U.S., according to New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The settlement was announced by James on Tuesday, but involved attorneys general from 48 states.

At least 25 people have been killed worldwide by Takata inflators and more than 300 have been injured.

“The now-bankrupt airbag inflator supplier, Takata, pleaded guilty in 2017 to federal criminal fraud charges for deceiving Honda and other automakers about the safety of its airbags,” Honda said in a prepared statement. “Under the terms of these civil settlements, Honda does not acknowledge any wrongdoing.”

Honda has recalled approximately 12.9 million Honda and Acura vehicles equipped with the defective inflators since 2008.