A truck that was transporting Takata Corp. air bag inflators and propellants on the heart of a worldwide recall exploded in Texas final week, killing one lady and injuring 4 different folks, the auto components provider stated on Monday.
The truck, operated by a subcontractor, was touring to a Takata warehouse in Eagle Cross, Texas, early on Aug. 22 when an accident occurred, inflicting an explosion that incinerated a close-by dwelling, native media reviews stated.
The truck “was concerned in an accident,” Takata stated in a press release on Monday. “In accordance with preliminary reviews, the accident triggered a fireplace, which led to an explosion.”
Texas state officers didn’t instantly return requires remark early on Monday.
A Takata spokesman in Tokyo stated earlier on Monday the blast killed one lady and that the truck was carrying air bag inflators and propellants containing ammonium nitrate, a unstable chemical compound. These luggage have in the previous exploded and been linked to the deaths of not less than 14 folks, triggering the most important recall in the worldwide auto business.
The drive of the explosion broken about 10 close by houses, breaking home windows and dislodging doorways from their hinges, native media reviews stated, with rubble and truck components discovered virtually a mile away from the positioning of the blast.
Takata has a warehouse in Eagle Cross, which is close to the Mexico-U.S. border, that shares inflators manufactured in Monclova in Mexico. That plant has been confirmed as one of many sources of the corporate’s faulty air luggage.
Native media reviews stated the motive force of the truck was a 20-year-old man who, together with a passenger, had been capable of escape from the truck earlier than it exploded. Nonetheless, a 69-year-old lady was killed when the blast occurred in entrance of her dwelling, the reviews stated.
A two-day search was performed to seek out the girl, however the search was known as off after she was recognized by dental information, native media reported.
Greater than 100 million automobiles worldwide have been slated for recall to switch Takata inflators, which in addition to the deaths, are linked to greater than 150 accidents, largely in the US and involving Honda Motor Co. Ltd. vehicles.
Extended publicity of the faulty Takata inflators to scorching situations has been discovered to trigger air luggage to blow up with extreme drive, spraying shrapnel into passenger compartments.
(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu in Tokyo and Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Modifying by Christopher Cushing and Bernadette Baum)
