Fatal Airbag Explosion in Guadeloupe Linked to Takata Defect, Adding to Global Death Toll

Another death linked to the explosion of a defective Takata airbag. On Monday, the Pointe-à-Pitre prosecutor’s office announced that the death of a driver on a road in Guadeloupe on March 25 is "linked to the deployment" of a defective airbag from the Japanese manufacturer Takata. Before this announcement, the French Ministry of Transport had already recorded twenty-nine accidents causing twelve deaths in overseas territories and one in metropolitan France, reports Midi Libre.

"The autopsy confirmed that the death is directly linked to the explosion of the airbag" in an accident that occurred in the locality of Le Moule, confirmed the Public Prosecutor of Pointe-à-Pitre, Caroline Calbo. She added: "We have referred the case to the investigating judge for involuntary manslaughter" and she "is in the process of closing her investigation on Takata airbags to transfer it to the investigating judge of the JIRS [specialized interregional jurisdiction] in Paris."

These airbags were manufactured, among other places, in Tangier. Implicated in several accidents, these air cushions present a risk of untimely deployment with projection of metal pieces, due to the deterioration of certain chemical components under the effect of heat and humidity. Last year, Stellantis Morocco had intensified its recall campaign concerning Citroën C3 and DS3 produced between 2009 and 2019 and equipped with potentially dangerous Takata airbags.