Nevada to receive $1.2 million in Honda settlement
CARSON CITY — Nevada will receive $1.2 million as part of an $85 million settlement over defective airbags between carmaker Honda and 48 states, Attorney General Aaron Ford announced Tuesday.
The settlement closes out a multistate investigation into Honda’s alleged failure to tell regulators and consumers of defects in frontal airbags that created a significant risk of rupture, propelling metal fragments into the passenger compartments of vehicles equipped with them.
The systems were designed and manufactured by Takata Corp., a longtime Honda supplier, and installed in Honda cars starting in 2001.
The defect involved a flammable propellant that could ignite and cause the bag inflator to burst. Honda delayed warning consumers or safety officials even amid a partial recall in 2008 and 2009 and maintained that the airbags were safe. Since 2008, Honda has recalled approximately 12.9 million Honda and Acura vehicles equipped with the suspect inflators.
Under the settlement, Honda had to change its airbag procurement, sign off on new airbag designs before putting them in new cars, abide by prohibitions on misleading advertisements regarding the safety of their vehicles, implement whistleblower protections, and improve risk management, quality control, supplier oversight, training and certification.
Takata went bankrupt and pleaded guilty in 2017 to federal criminal fraud charges for deceiving Honda and other automakers about the safety of its airbags.
Contact Capital Bureau reporter Bill Dentzer at bdentzer@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DentzerNews on Twitter.