Honda Airbag Death Prompts Corvette Forum Reaction

By Detroit Steel - February 27, 2015

Honda Air Bag

Honda news has made its way onto Corvette Forum — and for good reason, albeit sad.

The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences in Texas has concluded that Carlos Solis, a 35-year-old Houston man, has died as a result of injuries suffered from his 2002 Accord’s recalled air bag that never got fixed. And he probably never knew about the recall in the first place.

Solis’s death prompted Corvette Forum Member Vistoso Vecino to start a thread called “Take Your Vehicle in For a Recall. “I think that it should be criminal for not responding to a recall,” wrote Vecino. “The cited situation was the man in TX that had bought a used Honda and killed by the air-bag problem—shrapnel in the neck– and it had been sold to him, his being unaware of the problem.”

Solis, a father of two, died after the metal disc from a defective air bag sliced into his neck when he was driving the car. The Accord was actually recalled in 2011 for the airbag problem, but apparently neither the dealer nor two previous owners had the repairs done before Solis bought the car in April.

Honda says that while recall notifications were mailed to a previous owner of the Accord, the company hadn’t sent one to Solis, indicating that there’s a good chance he didn’t even know the car was recalled.

Given the circumstances, who will ultimately be held responsible for Solis’ death seems a little unclear. But it certainly brings to light the importance of getting those recalls fixed, not just for your safety, but for the safety of any future travelers down the road.