In our consumer-driven economy, product liability lawsuits are very common. Consumers have the right to hold companies accountable for ensuring that their products are safe and reliable. A person must prove four things in order to be successful in a product liability lawsuit. First, the consumer must prove that he/she has been injured. Second, they must prove that the product involved was somehow defective or lacked proper instructions or warnings. Third, the consumer must prove that the product defect was the direct cause of his/her injuries. Finally, he/she must prove that when they were injured, they were using the product in the manner in which it was intended to be used.
Kylan Langlinais died on April 9th when her car crashed into a utility pole in Lafayette, Louisiana. Upon impact, Langlinais’s air bag exploded, but with too much force. Shrapnel ejected from the airbag and punctured Langlinais’s right carotid artery, causing her death. Several doctors did exploratory surgery and concluded that the injury from the exploding air bag directly caused her death, as she had no other injuries. Langlinais’ mother received a recall notice from Honda in connection with the airbags just two days after her daughter’s car accident.
According to KOIN6, Langlinais’s mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Honda and Takata claiming that the two companies covered up the air bag defect for more than ten years. In May, Tanaka finally recalled 33.8 million air bag inflators, after much pressure from the government. This was the largest auto recall in United States history. Although the company is still trying to determine the cause of the defect, it is possible that the ammonium nitrate used to inflate the air bags caused chemical burns that blew up the canister designed to contain the blast. Langlinais was the seventh person killed by the defective Takata air bags. Additionally, 105 people have been injured in accidents involving Takata’s recalled inflators.
If you or a family member has been injured because of a defective consumer product, contact one of our Boston product liability injury attorney specialists today. Call 617-787-3700 or email us at info@gilhoylaw.com.
