Malaysian Woman Dies After Air Bag Ruptures in Accident

A Malaysian woman has died after the air bag in her Honda City vehicle ruptured in a minor collision, a safety official said Monday.

The incident Sunday came days after Honda Malaysia announced an additional recall of more than 145,000 vehicles to replace defective front passenger air-bag inflators.

Fire and rescue official Rosdi Hainan said the driver-side air bag had ruptured when he arrived at the site of the accident, and the victim was bleeding from her chest.

Rosdi said the woman died a short time later.

Honda Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. said in a statement that it confirmed that the air bag had ruptured in the accident. It said the vehicle had been included in three Takata air bag recalls but the repairs had not been completed.

There have been massive recalls involving Takata air bags in millions of vehicles around the world because of faulty inflator and propellant devices that may deploy improperly in an accident, shooting out metal fragments that can injure or kill.

Worldwide, 11 known deaths and more than 100 injuries have been blamed on exploding Takata-made air-bag inflators.

In November last year, a 43-year-old Malaysian housewife was killed after a collision activated the air bag in her Honda. Honda also confirmed two other deaths that are linked to air-bag issues in April and May this year.