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ahm713 OP t1_is6r2u7 wrote

> It’s also humid down in Florida where, in September 2014, Hien Tran was driving home from her family’s nail salon in Orlando.
>
>Like Ms Parham, she had a relatively minor crash in a Honda Accord. But when paramedics arrived they couldn’t understand the scene before them. She had suffered a slash through her jugular vein.
>
>“Deep cuts on the right side of her neck were not consistent with crash injuries,” a report from the paramedics stated.
>
>“There were no windows broken ... that would cause sharp glass to penetrate a human’s body. Therefore, the force of the crash was not significant enough to cause great bodily harm to any occupant in both vehicles.”
> >It looked like Ms Tran had been stabbed, reported the New York Times. Initially, police looked into why someone might murder the Vietnamese immigrant, who never regained consciousness and later died.
> >It was only when, a week later, a letter from Honda came through the post asking Ms Tran to get her car’s airbags fixed that police realised that was the cause.

It is truly horrifying that millions of cars worldwide are still affected and that there are probably many unrecognised deaths that are probably attributed to those airbags.

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dreadredheadzedsdead t1_is7jk40 wrote

Good to point out Honda was not the only manufacturer that used these faulty air bags, not by a long shot.

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NinthAuto591 t1_is8ct42 wrote

Is there any sort of list or anything to see what manufacturers and models were affected?

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dreadredheadzedsdead t1_is8e9sz wrote

Yeah it should be readily available online. Also you can call a dealership with your VIN and they'll tell you if your TSB was ever completed or not.

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immersemeinnature t1_is7o3ho wrote

There wasn't a recall?!

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RockItGuyDC t1_is82z33 wrote

Pulling the number out of my ass, but even when there's a recall I think it would be a miracle if 75% of the vehicles affected actually get the issue fixed. That's how there are still millions of vehicles in the road with either this or a host of other issues.

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aaj617 t1_is8ah3b wrote

Whenever this cones up I think of Anton yelchin:(

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Agnostalypse t1_is8fkhh wrote

That one still gets me. I can't watch any of his movies without tearing up. He had so much potential. Fuck Chrysler, seriously.

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Swag_Grenade t1_is9g3m4 wrote

Oh shit was that a vehicle defect/fault that caused the accident? I just remember hearing about it being a freak accident with his car, didn't remember hearing anything about faulty equipment/a recall.

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8246962 t1_is9zh7f wrote

I believe it was a poor design decision by the manufacturer on how the shifter works on that vehicle.

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h3lme7 t1_isaf24h wrote

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Agnostalypse t1_isbl7gn wrote

Yep, I was going to say this but couldn't reply earlier. It's not a defect, but definitely a massive design flaw. Both my maternal and paternal grandfather worked for GMC and they strongly resisted any changes to design that gave way to aesthetics over function.

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jcracken t1_is8ctre wrote

There were some stories floating around (anecdotal, so take with a grain of salt) of how the dealerships didn't want to actually do the work to replace the airbags because the payout from OEMs was break-even. So instead a lot of them took in the vehicle, and then let it sit for a few hours before returning it "fixed". If called on it, they could plead ignorance and actually do the procedure then, but almost nobody could actually call them on it because how do you even check?

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thrownaway6990 t1_is9titg wrote

This may have been true in the 90s early 2000s, but the manufacturer I work for requires pictures and verification of number swaps. And if the tech claims he did a job that he didn't do and for whatever reason another tech has to go in behind the first guy and finds the recall wasn't completed as stated. The first tech can have his number suspended and he could lose his job as well as the dealership could lose franchising rights. I only know this because one of our techs had alot of work closed under his number that later came back as incomplete. So now he is on a year long probation and has to have all warranty work signed off on by the shop foreman and service manager. I worked with a couple of old Honda techs who claim that when this recall was in its prime they were going to junk yards to replace any airbags in any totalled vehicles as well so there was no risk of problems later on. Plus the techs got paid pretty well for the work.

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substantial-freud t1_isueb6r wrote

The manufacturer should have warned them: you do this, and anyone dies, it’s felony murder. Carrie’s the death penalty in a lot of states.

(I’m not 100% you could make it stick — most jurisdictions actually list the felonies that are “inherently dangerous” — but these are mechanics not lawyers.)

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plazmafire t1_is9zc2d wrote

They force you to in Australia. A friend of mine has an older Volvo (2004 or so), and he hasn't gotten around to having it done. He's been threatened with registration cancellation if he doesn't get it done.

I had a Mazda 6 done three damn times (and no one explained to me why). The third time I cracked the shits and insisted that they come and collect the car, and supply me with a loaner. They wouldn't collect it, but I did get a loaner for two days.

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