Honda confirms 16th U.S. death over faulty airbag

Honda Motor Co said on Friday it had confirmed a 16th U.S. death has been tied to a faulty Takata airbag inflator.

The Japanese automaker said that after a joint inspection with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration it had confirmed a faulty airbag inflator was to blame for a June 2018 death of a driver after a 2002 Honda Civic crash in Buckeye, Arizona.

The defect, which leads in rare instances to air bag inflators rupturing and sending metal fragments flying, has prompted the largest automotive recall in U.S. history and is tied to 14 U.S. deaths in Honda vehicles and two in Ford Motor Co vehicles.