8th death from Takata air-bag blast was in western Pa.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

A minor who was driving a car that crashed near Pittsburgh has been tentatively identified by the government as the eighth death in the U.S. due to an explosive air-bag inflator made by auto parts maker Takata, federal transportation officials said Wednesday.

The victim is a 13-year-old driver from Grove City, Pa., who died a few days after a July car crash in Findley Township, Mercer County. The report doesn’t explain why the boy, who was alone, was driving the car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials also announced an expansion in the recall of vehicles with Takata air bags, already the largest and most-complex recall in the agency’s history. The latest findings could result in the recall of several hundred thousand additional vehicles, officials said.

The appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the company’s compliance with a government consent order on the recalls was also announced.

NHTSA learned of the latest death last week after a lawyer for the minor’s family contacted the agency, NHTSA spokesman Gordon Trowbridge told reporters in a conference call. The car involved was a used 2001 Honda Accord under recall that was owned by a relative of the minor, he said. But a government official told The Associated Press that a boy was driving the car when it left the road and struck a tree. The official provided the information on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

“The agency has now tentatively concluded that this was likely a rupture-related fatality,” Trowbridge said. The agency is now working the family, Takata and Honda to examine the vehicle in order to confirm that conclusion, he said.

A woman in Malaysia also was killed by a rupturing Takata air bag last year, the only known fatality outside the U.S., bringing the global number of deaths to nine. More than 100 other people have been injured by the Takata inflators, which can explode with too much force, sending shrapnel into drivers and

The vehicles being added to the recall are Mazda 6 model years 2005 to 2008, Honda CRV model years 2002 to 2004, Subaru Legacy model years 2005 to 2008 and Subaru Outback model years 2005 to 2008.

The expanded Honda recalls alone involved 127,000 inflators in vehicles not previously recalled, the carmaker said.

In the U.S., about 23 million Takata air-bag inflators have been recalled on 19 million vehicles sold by 12 auto and truck makers. The agency has fined Takata $70 million for delays in disclosing the safety defect, and warned the company could face an additional $130 million penalty if it doesn’t fulfill the terms of the consent order.