Takata's faulty airbags continue to exact a toll as recalls lag

Rock Hill, South Carolina

THE shrapnel from the Ford Ranger airbag punctured Joel Knight's neck with so much force that investigators initially did not rule out a fatal shooting.

Mr Knight's truck hit a stray cow on a South Carolina highway last December - an accident that should have left the 52-year-old welder shaken up but not dead. Instead, he bled to death, not knowing that the airbag in his truck had ever posed a risk, because it had never been recalled.

He most likely did not even know that his airbag had been manufactured by Takata, the Japanese supplier whose faulty airbags have been linked to 10 deaths and more than 100 injuries, said his widow Ann Knight.

"If he'd have known, he'd have gotten it fixed," said Mrs Knight, 50. "He took good care of that truck." She added: "Now something that was supp…