Teen’s death tied to deadly air bag inflator

Feds say fatality in 2001 Honda is eighth in U.S. from Takata product.

A teen driver who died a few days after a July car crash near Pittsburgh has been tentatively identified by the government as the eighth death in the United States due to an explosive air bag inflator made by auto parts maker Takata, federal transportation officials saidWednesday.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials also announced an expansion in the recall of vehicles with Takata airbags, already the largest and most complex recall in the agency’s history. The latest findings could result in the recall of several hundred thousand additional vehicles.

The appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the company’s compliance with a government consent order on the recalls also was announced.

NHTSA learned of the latest death last week after a lawyer for the teen’s family contacted the agency, NHTSA spokesman Gordon Trowbridge told reporters in a conference call. The car involved was a used 2001 Honda Accord under recall that was owned by a relative of the teen, he said. He didn’t identify the victim.

“The agency has now tentatively concluded that this was likely a rupture-related fatality,” Trowbridge said. The agency is now working the family, Takata and Honda to examine the vehicle in order to confirm that conclusion, he said.

A woman in Malaysia also was killed by a rupturing Takata air bag last year, bringing the global number of deaths to nine. More than 100 other people have been injured by the Takata inflators, which can explode with too much force, sending shrapnel into drivers and passengers.