DETROIT — Three more people have been killed in the past seven months by Takata airbag inflators that exploded and hurled shrapnel. Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, said Wednesday that 276,000 owners of older Dodge and Chrysler cars should not drive them until the airbags are replaced. The cars were recalled in 2015.
The three recent fatalities bring the worldwide death toll from Takata airbag inflators to at least 32, with 23 in the U.S.
Many millions of recalled vehicles are still on the road, despite automakers' attempts to contact owners. The problem is particularly acute if you are not the original purchaser of the vehicle and an automaker doesn't know you're the current owner. To check to see if your vehicle is involved in the Takata airbag recall, go to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall website and look up your VIN number.
These deaths have occurred since May 2009:
— May 27, 2009: Ashley Parham, 18, of Midwest City, Oklahoma, 2001 Honda Accord
— Dec. 24, 2009: Gurjit Rathore, 33, of Richmond, Virginia, 2001 Honda Accord
— Sept. 13, 2013: Hai Ming Xu, of Alhambra, California, 2002 Acura TL
— July 27, 2014: Law Suk Leh of Sibu, Malaysia, 2003 Honda City
— Sept. 7, 2014: Jewel Brangman, 26, of California, 2001 Honda Civic
— Sept. 29, 2014: Hien Thi Tran, 51, of Orlando, Florida, 2001 Honda Accord
— Jan. 18, 2015: Carlos Solis, 35, of Spring, Texas, 2002 Honda Accord
— April 15, 2015: Kylan Langlinais, 23, of Lafayette, Louisiana, 2005 Honda Accord
— July 22, 2015: Unidentified 13-year-old boy, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, 2001 Honda Accord
— Dec. 22, 2015: Joel Knight, 52, of Kershaw, South Carolina, 2006 Ford Ranger
— March 31, 2016: Huma Hanif, 17, of Fort Bend County, Texas, 2002 Honda Civic
— April 16, 2016: Unidentified person, Sabah State, Malaysia, 2006 Honda City. Inflator ruptured, no death cause determined.
— May 1, 2016: Unidentified person, Malaysia, 2003 Honda City. Inflator ruptured, no death cause determined.
— June, 2016: Unidentified person in Malaysia. Inflator ruptured, no death cause determined.
—June 19, 2016: Ramon Kuffo, 81, Hialeah, Florida. Inflator ruptured while he was repairing interior of car.
— Sept. 24, 2016: Unidentified driver, Johor State, Malaysia, 2009 Honda City. Inflator ruptured, no death cause determined.
— Sept. 30, 2016: Delia Robles, 50, of Corona, California, 2001 Honda Civic.
— July 1, 2017: Steve Mollohan, 56, of West Virginia, 2006 Ford Ranger.
— July 10, 2017: George R. Sharp, 61, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2004 Honda Civic.
— July 13, 2017: Unidentified 58-year-old man in suburban Sydney, 2007 Honda CR-V.
— July 19, 2017: Nichol Lynn Barker, 34, of Holiday, Florida, 2002 Honda Accord.
— Jan. 1, 2018: Unidentified driver in central Selangor state, Malaysia, 2004 Honda City.
— May 27, 2018: Unidentified driver in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2004 Honda City.
— June 11, 2018: Armando V. Ortega, 55, of Yuma, Arizona, 2002 Honda Civic.
— Unknown date: Unidentified driver of a 1998 BMW 3 Series car in unknown location in Australia. BMW said it became aware of the death in September 2019.
— Aug. 20, 2020: Unidentified driver, Mesa Arizona, 2002 Honda Civic.
— Sept. of 2020: Unidentified BMW driver, Arizona.
— Jan. 9, 2021: Unidentified driver, 2002 Honda Accord, Lancaster County, South Carolina.
— July 7, 2022: Hayden Jones Jr., 23, of Pensacola, Florida, 2006 Ford Ranger.
— April, 2022 through Nov. 3, 2022: Three unidentified drivers of Stellantis cars. Company says two were killed by ruptured inflators in separate crashes. A third death is suspected to have been caused by a Takata inflator. All three crashes were in warm-weather, high-humidity U.S. states. Stellantis and NHTSA would not give locations or identify victims.
Sources: Associated Press archives, Center for Auto Safety, U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Honda Motor Co., Stellantis N.V., family members, legal documents and police reports.
