With Takata bankruptcy increasingly likely, bankruptcy rules favor early defective airbag lawsuit filers

Faced with the largest product recall in U.S. history thanks to Takata’s dangerous and defective airbag inflators, Honda and other automakers are finding it hard to live up to earlier promises to car owners. The NBCNewYork.com article below confirms a phenomenon playing out in different ways across the country: Honda dealers are simply unable to abide by earlier pledges to promptly fix vehicles on the recall list and/or provide loaner vehicles if they’re not able to replace the dangerous airbags immediately.

Now linked to 11 deaths and more than 100 serious injuries, this is more than just an inconvenience for car owners. Honda’s and other automakers’ inability to fix these vehicles is placing motorists at risk of serious injury and death.

Farrar & Ball automotive defect lawyers have extensive experience investigating these highly complex cases and are actively representing motorists who have been injured by defective Takata airbags. The Houston-based firm has earned record jury verdicts for individuals who have been injured by defective automotive products. These are cases that require an aggressive approach to obtain information from multinational companies and an ability to analyze and communicate complex engineering data in a way that resonates with juries.

With the recall now at 69 million vehicles and counting, the prospect of a Takata bankruptcy appears increasingly likely.

“When product liability injury claims intersect with corporations in bankruptcy, we’ve seen from experience that injury litigation filed earlier in the process has a clearer path to success for the injured parties,” says Farrar & Ball trial lawyer Wes Ball. “Car owners who believe they have a claim against Takata should not delay in talking with an attorney who has experience prosecuting this kind of technically complex auto defect litigation.”

Notes NBCNewYork.com report:

Claudia Rabin, who leases a recalled Acura RDX, said she waited about a month for a replacement part. In order to qualify for a loaner SUV, Acura of Brooklyn required her to sign a document with the following language: “I wish to retain the Subject Vehicle in my possession until the parts necessary to complete the Subject Recall Repair become available.”

Rabin signed the document, but felt it was underhanded.

“If something happens to me in the car, it makes me responsible,” Rabin said.

“I did not choose to take the car and I was quite adamant about the fact that I didn’t want the car,” Rabin said. “There is no parking for another car where I live.”