Takata troubles worsen as truck explodes, killing woman in Texas

This is not trouble for Takata, but trouble for the company that was transporting the airbags, and the driver of the truck. When airbag canisters burn, they explode, which is what you expect from devices filled with explosives. An oil refinery is not considered responsible with a gasoline tanker truck crashes and explodes.

When airbags were first developed, these problems were all listed by detractors, who predicted quite accurately what is going on now.

There will come a day when somebody will look back on all this and say... you know....

On the one hand, we have 10 alleged incidents from Takata inflators over the last decade or so.... and on the other hand, we have hundreds of thousands of lives saved and injuries avoided by correctly installed and functional inflators.

And what we did was take out all of those inflators in millions of vehicles and put in a bunch of quickly produced and installed inflators with various manufacturers and installers during recalls just so that we could make Takata obey our authoritah! And now that replacement process has created financial mayhem, confusion, and now deaths.

Gee. Maybe we should have let well enough alone. How many people are strangled by seatbelts every year? How many people are killed changing tires to snow tires, or putting chains on their vehicles in winter? I am betting the numbers are ten times higher than anything that can be tied to inflators. Do anything you want to do in life people, but trust me on this advice: do not ever ever invent or produce a safety device. You will be sued to the poorhouse no matter how good it is.

Speed

The airbags malfunctioned because of design flaw. That makes Takata liable.

I am unsure why you have a bee in your bonet about this. Perhaps you are simply being a contrarian.

Regardless, liability is a crucial feedback in improving goods.

I was riding my bike home late at night (US..20 years ago) no hands on the handle bars, jammin the song remains the same, when BAM, the bolt on my seat snaps in half, I fall straight down and tear a flap of skin off my ankle from the sprocket. My father and I searched for the parts the next day after my emergency room visit, a tool and die business owner, found the bolt and quickly said it wasn't heat treated. Bike was from a Tiawanese maker. Yeah, I sued them. That's how things work in a capitalist economy. The bike was recalled but the shop never contacted me. If you make dangerous shit, be prepared to pay for your mistakes.

Other manufacturers are not having the problems, or not enough to be newsworthy.

They only found some bones and teeth from the missing woman in Quemado. Her niece (a dentist) identified her from dental records.

It was a two-vehicle crash, apparently, but even if the other driver was at fault Takata could be in big trouble over this incident, monetarily.