Honda confirms ninth death linked to Takata airbag

Honda Motor Co confirmed on Thursday that a Takata airbag inflator ruptured in a July crash of a Honda Accord and likely led to the death of the young driver, the ninth death in the world linked to the faulty inflators. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

JAN 1, 20169:15 AM

[WASHINGTON] Honda Motor Co confirmed on Thursday that a Takata airbag inflator ruptured in a July crash of a Honda Accord and likely led to the death of the young driver, the ninth death in the world linked to the faulty inflators.

The death, first reported by US auto safety authorities last week, is the eighth in the United States and the first since April tied to the inflators that have been recalled in tens of million of vehicles worldwide.

After an inspection of vehicle components in cooperation with regulators, Honda said it "confirmed that the Takata driver's front airbag inflator ruptured" and "injuries related to this airbag inflator rupture likely resulted in the tragic death of the underage driver."

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said last week the death took place in July in a recalled used 2001 Honda Accord coupe near Pittsburgh. The unidentified teen-aged driver was hospitalised after a Takata airbag ruptured and died several days later.

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A NHTSA spokesman declined to comment on Thursday.

Reuters reported last week that the death involved a 13-year-old boy who was in an early morning crash on July 22 after he apparently took the keys without permission from a parent and got behind the wheel, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Pennsylvania State Police have said a July 22 incident involved a 13-year-old boy driver who was the lone person in a 2001 Honda Accord that went off a road into a wooded area at 4.46am in western Pennsylvania.

Honda said the car's prior owner first got a recall notice in 2010. Honda mailed a new recall notice on July 21, one day before the crash, to the new owner.

In November, Takata agreed to pay a US$70 million fine for safety violations and could face deferred penalties of up to US$130 million under a NHTSA settlement.

NHTSA last week named a former Justice Department official as a monitor to help regulators oversee one of the biggest and most complex safety recalls in US automotive history, encompassing 23 million air bag inflators in 19 million vehicles manufactured by 12 car companies.

Takata's inflators can explode with too much force and spray metal shrapnel into vehicle passenger compartments.

All of the nine reported airbag deaths, including the death of a pregnant woman in Malaysia, have been in Honda vehicles.

REUTERS

    
 

Japan's ANA airline in billion-dollar Airbus deal: reports

Japan's All Nippon Airways is buying three Airbus A380s in a billion-dollar deal, business daily Nikkei said on Friday, making it the first Japanese carrier to own the superjumbo jet. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

JAN 1, 20161:33 PM

[TOKYO] Japan's All Nippon Airways is buying three Airbus A380s in a billion-dollar deal, business daily Nikkei said on Friday, making it the first Japanese carrier to own the superjumbo jet.

The Japanese airline plans to introduce the double-decker planes on flights to Hawaii and other overseas destinations, in an effort to boost its international business.

The company paid about 150 billion yen (S$1.73 billion) for the three A380 planes, which have 500 seats, more than double the number of spots on ANA planes that currently fly to Hawaii, the business daily said.

In 2014, ANA was ahead of its rival Japan Airlines (JAL) in terms of passenger count on international flights, but JAL served more people on the Tokyo to Hawaii route - 35 per cent of all Hawaii-bound passengers compared to ANA's 20 percent.

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ANA hopes the superjumbo jet purchase will give it a leg up and allow it to increase the number of people it serves on flights to Hawaii.

About 1.5 million people travel from Japan to Hawaii ever year, according to the Hawaiian Tourism Authority.

ANA's domestic rival Skymark Airlines signed a contract with Airbus in 2011 to buy six A380 jets, but the superjumbo manufacturer cancelled the US$2.2 billion order in July 2014, apparently over concerns it would not get paid.

In October, ANA announced six-month net profits soared 51 per cent as a jump in inbound tourism boosted its international business, while falling oil prices also helped the airlines' finances.

AFP

    
 

India's smog-shrouded capital pulls cars off roads

JAN 1, 20164:33 PM

[New Delhi] More than a million private cars were banned from New Delhi's roads on Friday, as authorities began trialling drastic new measures to cut smog in the world's most polluted capital.

From January 1 only cars with odd-numbered licence plates will be allowed on the roads on odd-numbered dates and those with even-numbered plates on the other days, except on Sundays when the rule does not apply.

The restrictions will run until January 15 on a trial basis as part of a wider drive aimed at reducing pollution levels that also includes shutting some coal-fired power plants and vacuuming roads to reduce dust.

Early Friday as Delhi residents took the roads, volunteers and traffic police were seen fanning out across the central part of the city.

On one of the city's main arterial roads, most cars trickling in bore odd-numbered license plates while scores of cyclists wore fluorescent gear, their faces covered.

"Traffic definitely looks thinner today than most days. But I don't know if that's because of the odd-even rule or because people partied too much last night," 58-year-old Mohammad Shahid, a civil defence volunteer, told AFP while standing at one of Delhi's busiest intersections.

Critics have warned the plan could fail in a city where traffic rules are already routinely flouted, with even the federal environment minister calling the move "crazy".

Many believe Delhi residents will deploy the famed Indian skill of "jugaad" - creating a cheap alternative solution - by forging number plates or buying second cars.

But traffic policemen on Friday were happy and surprised to find Delhiites obeying the rules.

"I would have expected to catch at least dozens in the first half an hour but surprisingly most people are obeying," Ankit Kumar, a senior traffic policeman, said.

"At least over here which is usually a pretty hectic intersection. This is a good sign. But let's see what happens on Monday (when more commuters hit the roads)," he added.

One of the first violators of the new rule at the busy stretch was fined 2,000 rupees ($30) - steep for the average Delhiite - for driving a car with an even-numbered licence plate.

Police asked him to turn around and go back home.

The Delhi government says the car restrictions could be introduced on a more permanent basis if successful, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal promising that he and his ministers would car-pool.

"This plan will only be successful when it becomes a very big movement, when people will want to obey it from their heart," he has said previously, urging Delhiites to cooperate.

"Don't do it because Kejriwal says so, don't do it because the government is forcing you. Do it because you feel it is important for your life, your health." But some have expressed scepticism about the scheme given the large number of exemptions, which range from motorcycles to women driving alone. Campaigners say motorbikes create up to 31 per cent of total vehicular pollution.

Mr Kejriwal's government announced the measures early December, responding to public pressure to tackle pollution levels more than 10 times the World Health Organization's safe limits.

A 2014 WHO survey of more than 1,600 cities ranked Delhi as the most polluted, partly because of the 8.5 million vehicles on its roads. Just under three million of these are private cars or vans, and another 1,400 are added every day.

The city has been shrouded in a toxic blanket of smog in recent weeks as winter sets in and cooler temperatures trap pollutants in the atmosphere, pushing harmful PM 2.5 levels sky-high.

These fine particles less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter are linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease after settling into lungs and passing into the bloodstream.

Delhi's government has hired 3,000 private buses to provide shuttle services into the city from residential areas to cope with the extra ridership during the trial.

Schools have been ordered to remain closed until the trial ends so that their buses can be pressed into action.

AFP