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Takata airbags linked to seventh death

A seventh fatality may be linked to Takata's faulty airbag inflators, based on a recently filed lawsuit in Louisiana. The case alleges that a 22-year-old woman there died in April following injuries from an accident while driving in a 2005 Honda Civic. She reportedly received the mailing about the airbag safety campaign two days after the crash, according to Bloomberg. The accident occurred on April 5 when the vehicle hit a utility pole. The driver's airbag deployed but allegedly sprayed metal shrapnel at the woman. "When she was in the hospital, they did exploratory surgery and found no other injuries," said Kenneth D. St. Pe, the lawyer for the driver's mother who filed the lawsuit, according to Bloomberg. "Her sole injury was that her throat was cut open." In a portion of a statement from Honda to Autoblog, the automaker says: "Honda is now in communication with representatives of the family in an effort to gather further information in order to better understand the situation." The Takata airbag inflator recall was expanded in May to cover 34 million vehicles in this country from 11 automakers. Up until now, the faulty parts have been potentially linked to six deaths, including five in the US and one in Malaysia, plus many injuries. Honda and Takata are facing at least two dozen lawsuits in Florida for claims related to the bad components. So far, the evidence suggests that exposure to moisture causes the propellant to ignite too quickly and cause these ruptures. However, many people aren't getting the problem fixed. Honda Statement: Honda was recently notified of the crash of a 2005 Honda Civic in Louisiana on April 5, 2015 that later resulted in the death of the driver. The crash may have resulted in the rupture of the Takata driver front airbag inflator. Honda is now in communication with representatives of the family in an effort to gather further information in order to better understand the situation. Related Video:

Honda HR-V could spawn Acura variant

We've been saying it for months now, but the compact CUV is the next big thing. Everyone, and we mean everyone, is at least considering getting in on the action, if they aren't already actively designing or selling, and that's true whether they're a premium or mainstream automaker. That, of course, includes Acura, whose parent company, Honda, has a compact CUV of its own coming to market very, very soon. With the arrival of the Fit-based HR-V, that begs the question of whether the near-premium marque will join this burgeoning segment. The idea of building a car below the company's entry level CUV, the RDX, is an appealing one to Honda Executive Vice President John Mendel, who called it "potentially the only place you could go," and would occupy the "white space" the company is looking to fill. While we might chuckle about the idea of a luxurious, Fit-based CUV, it's fair to say it could do well for Acura. It could certainly provide a foil to the very hot selling Buick Encore, and may even capture some sales from the luxuriously outfitted Jeep Renegade Limited/Fiat 500X Lounge. It remains to be seen, though, if Acura could build an HR-V capable of tangling with the new entries from Lexus, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.

Submit your questions for Autoblog Podcast #319 LIVE!

We record Autoblog Podcast #319 tonight, and you can drop us your questions and comments regarding the rest of the week's news via our Q&A module below. Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes if you haven't already done so, and if you want to take it all in live, tune in to our UStream (audio only) channel at 10:00 PM Eastern tonight.
Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #319
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