Customer Suing Honda Dealer, Honda Motor Company And Takata

A Utah woman is suing both Honda and dealership where she purchased her Honda civic after she allegedly suffered injuries from a malfunctioning Takata air bag explosion.

Randi Johnson, 25, filed a lawsuit November 10 against the Honda Motor Company, air bag manufacturer Takata and Stockton Honda, the store where she purchased her 2003 Honda Civic. Johnson was reportedly driving to work September 28, when she was involved in an accident on interstate 15 near Salt Lake City. Johnson alleges her air bag deployed and exploded shooting shrapnel into her face and neck. Her trachea was reportedly severed and her vocal cords were damaged.

Due to injuries sustained September 28, Johnson cannot speak. In a press release distributed by Motley Rice the lawfirm representing Johnson she said, “…the idea that people unknowingly continue to get into cars with these dangerous air bags every day sickens me.”

Johnson is including the dealer in the lawsuit, since as the lawfirm press release alleges, the Civic was taken to the Honda store for a routine inspection right before she purchased in late March 2015. The suit alleges the dealer, “failed to perform internal notice directives for the air bag inflator and the air bag was not replaced.”

This lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal actions against either Honda or Takata after the air bag recall issue came in light in late 2014. Approximately 34 million vehicles could be impacted by the recall in the United States. Honda, along with other automakers have stopped using Takaka products and NHTSA fined Takata $70 million as part of a consent order related to the recall.

The allegation against the dealer is that they didn’t follow “notice directives” to replace both the air bag and air bag inflator in the Civic. Do you foresee more lawsuits such as this one coming against dealers in future? Finally, what impact have Takata recalls had at your store?