Honda: Exploding Takata airbag hurts another US driver

Another exploding Takata airbag has left a US driver hurt, after a crash in a Honda car last month, the Japanese auto company said Tuesday, the latest in a series of problems that have sparked huge recalls.

About 20 million vehicles produced by some of the world's biggest automakers are being recalled due to the risk their Takata-made airbags could deploy with excessive explosive power, spraying potentially fatal shrapnel into the vehicle.

The problem has been linked to at least five deaths globally.

"We have discovered that an injury to a driver in Florida on March 20 was caused by the abnormal rupture of a Takata-made airbag," a spokesman for Honda told AFP in Tokyo, adding the company was now probing the case.

The car in question was a 2003 Civic sedan, he said.

"We've been told that the driver was hit by a piece of flying metal when the airbag exploded," he said, adding the details of the case were still under investigation.

A Takata spokesman said the company "is closely communicating with Honda to discover the circumstances of the incident."

Takata said last month it will double its production of replacement airbags in the next six months in response to a massive global safety recall.