Sunday, November 2, 2014

Faulty air bags spur lawsuit



You stand a better chance of being injured by a TAKATA AIR BAG than getting EBOLA!



Your vehicle will be recalled ONLY if it was purchased in these areas.....




 
 
The national law firm that negotiated one of the largest class-action settlements ever against an automaker has filed suit against Japanese auto parts supplier Takata Corp. and Honda Motor Co. over the installation of faulty air bag inflators in millions of vehicles in the United States.
 
The complaint, filed Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, seeks class-action status and claims Takata cut corners to build cheaper air bags and that Honda purchased the parts to slice its manufacturing expenses.
The lawsuit alleges "the result is that instead of saving lives, faulty Takata air bags in Honda automobiles are killing and maiming drivers and passengers involved in otherwise minor and survivable accidents."
 
The lawsuit seeks to collect economic damages for vehicle owners — including reimbursement for the decline in value of millions of cars allegedly caused by the air bag scandal.
 
The Berman firm has successfully negotiated similar claims, including a $1.6-billion class-action settlement with Toyota that is among the largest paid by an automaker. It applied to numerous suits claiming damages caused by safety defects related to incidents of unintended acceleration in the automaker's vehicles.
 
Like this latest case, that lawsuit did not address personal injury and wrongful-death claims.
 
The Seattle firm also was recently named co-lead counsel in the class-action lawsuit against General Motors over faulty ignition switches and loss of vehicle value.
 
In the Takata case, the suspect air bags were assembled with or included parts made in two Takata factories in the U.S. and Mexico. They were installed in vehicles made by Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Chrysler, Ford and BMW — with Honda vehicles making up the bulk of the list.
 
Automakers have already recalled many of the cars with the suspect air bags.
 
The lawsuit seeks to represent drivers who purchased or leased a Honda vehicle with a defective Takata air bag and that has been subject to an air bag-related warning or recall.
 
"Honda has not been served with the lawsuit and can't comment on it at this time," spokesman Chris Martin said. "We are focused on the core issue of repairing our customer vehicles."