The truck, operated by a subcontractor, crashed, caught fire and exploded August 22 in the small town of Quemado, about 140 miles from San Antonio, leveling the woman’s house. A Takata representative told Reuters that the truck had been carrying ammonium nitrate, the explosive chemical used in several types of airbag inflators.
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The driver of the tractor-trailer “failed to negotiate” a curve on a highway and crashed near a house, according to a preliminary statement from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The trailer, which was carrying airbag detonators and blasting agent, exploded and became engulfed in flames, causing the home and a passing vehicle to catch fire, DPS said. The ensuing explosion burned a house and killed an unidentified woman.
The explosion occurred after the truck went off the road in Eagle Pass, Texas, where Takata Corp. has a warehouse that stocks airbag inflators.
Takata says it has strict procedures covering transportation of its products that meet all government regulations.
Meantime, the spokesman said, in a statement that the airbag manufacturer immediately sent “personnel to the site”. Ten other homes were damaged, while debris was found a mile away, per Conexion Del Rio.
The inflators and propellants are at the center of a global recall involving exploding air bags.
A Takata spokesman in the United States (US) said the company had reported the incident to US safety regulators and was cooperating with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The driver and a passenger managed to escape, but two people in a passing auto were hurt in the explosion.
The woman was initially reported missing, but the two-day search for her ended when dental pieces found at the scene of the explosion were discovered to be Roberts.
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The Takata airbag recall, which includes driver- and passenger-side airbags, spans 14 automakers, 22 brands and includes more than 100 million vehicles worldwide.
