The American Honda Motor Company has confirmed that a Takata airbag explosion led to the death of a 22-year-old woman after her 2005 Honda Civic crashed into a utility pole. This is the seventh known death caused by the defective airbag manufactured by Japanese company Takata.

According to the faulty airbags lawsuit, Kylan Langlinais of Louisiana was driving her Honda Civic at the time of the accident. When the vehicle crashed into a pole, the driver side airbag exploded sending metal shrapnel into the air which penetrated Kylan’s neck, severing an artery and causing profuse blood loss. She died four days later.

Kylan’s family has filed a airbag malfunction lawsuit against American Honda Motor Co., Takata Corp., Highland Industries Inc. (a division of Takata) and others, claiming the airbag system “failed to perform in a reasonably safe manner.”

A Takata airbag recall has been taking place since 2014 as part of a “safety improvement campaign.” It included replacing the airbags in numerous car models, including the Honda Civic Kylan was driving.

However, the improvement campaign only began replacing the defective Takata airbags in regions that have high humidity like Florida and Hawaii, as regulators determined the airbag inflater’s explosion risk to be greater in those areas. And since it wasn’t considered a national recall campaign, rather an improvement campaign, notices to car owners affected by the defective Takata airbag in other states were not sent out until months later.

The airbag lawsuit claims that Kylan received the airbag recall notice by mail two days after the crash that claimed her life.

Takata Airbag Recall

The alleged faulty Takata airbags contain the chemical ammonium nitrate in order to inflate immediately should a crash occur. However, reports of personal injuries have led to the discovery that when the chemical comes into contact with humidity, it can cause an explosion of plastic and metal debris.

While the Takata airbag recall is currently taking place, Takata class action lawsuits claim the Japanese company knew about the defective airbag as early as 2001, yet failed to notify regulators.

In 2001, Japanese automaker Isuzu issued a Takata airbag recall because of the alleged defect. Similarly, in 2004, Honda also issued a Takata airbag recall. Honda eventually notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2008, when the company received additional reports of defective airbags.

Those who have filed Takata lawsuits claim other carmakers should have known about the exploding airbags as early as 2008, but allegedly failed to begin issuing airbag recalls until years later.

Last month, the Takata reported that about 34 million airbags must be recalled; less than 16 million have been replaced so far.

Airbag Class Action Lawsuits

The Takata airbag defect has been named as the cause of seven deaths and more than 100 injuries so far. More than 50 car models from manufacturers like Honda, Mazda, Toyota, and BMW are involved in the airbag recall.

A Takata class action lawsuit investigation has been launched to further explore if there was misconduct by auto manufacturers for failing to warn of the faulty airbags much sooner than they did.

Kylan’s family is asking for financial compensation to help pay for medical expenses and funeral expenses. They are also asking for damages of loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering, and wrongful death.