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Research Articles

Two cases of driver death caused by airbag rupture

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Pages 612-615 | Received 22 Apr 2023, Accepted 05 Jul 2023, Published online: 22 Mar 2024
 

Abstract

Objective

This article reports two accidents caused by defective Takata airbags ruptured, which led to the deaths of the drivers. This is the first public report on the deaths caused by Takata airbags in China.

Methods

Determine the relationship between the driver death and airbag rupture through autopsy indings and vehicle inspection.

Results

Due to defects in the design of Takata’s inflator, moist air was permitted to slowly enter the inflator, resulting the PSAN slowly degraded physically. The damaged propellant burned more rapidly than intended and overpressurized the inflator’s steel housing, causing fragmentation and flying debris at high speed, killing or injuring vehicle occupants.

Conclusions

To date, there are still tens of millions of defective Takata airbags that have not been recalled for repair, posing safety risks. This article suggests taking preventive measures to avoid the occurrence of similar accidents.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon request.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge the financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81971802).