Since breaking in 2015, the Takata airbag scandal has rocked the automotive industry, leading to industry-wide recalls. The airbags can explode with too much force, sending deadly and disabling shrapnel flying through vehicles. Almost two dozen deaths and hundreds of injuries have been reported worldwide. This has led to the company, Takata, based in Japan, to declare bankruptcy both at home and in the United States. The company has also been accused in a number of class-action lawsuits, along with numerous automakers. The Pittsburgh Legal Examiner reports on one of the latest lawsuits.
A North Carolina woman is the latest to file a lawsuit concerning injuries she suffered as the result of a Takata airbag.
The woman, whose name was withheld, claims that she was driving a Nissan Sentra through Charlotte, North Carolina when she was involved in an accident. She claims that her Takata airbag exploded, sending shrapnel flying at her. Some of that shrapnel ended up in her eye.
Her eye later developed an infection, requiring several operations to treat it. She now claims that she still has to undergo treatment and has suffered from a loss of vision in that eye as well as cosmetic damage.
The North Carolina woman is not alone in her claims that the Takata airbag led to the injury that caused vision loss.
Another woman in South Texas claims that she, too, suffered vision damage after the airbag in her 2012 Honda Civic exploded when it deployed. She suffered from a tear to her left eyeball.
Another man, this time in Oregon, was driving a 1999 Nissan Altima when an accident caused his airbag to deploy. He suffered from orbital fractures and a ruptured left eyeball. He later had to have the eye removed.
The North Carolina woman is seeking in excess of $75,000 in damages and names both Takata and Nissan in her lawsuit.
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