Woman Blinded By Airbag Working With Klobuchar To Hold Co. Accountable
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar is asking federal transportation officials to broaden a nationwide investigation into exploding Takata airbags that blinded a Minnesota woman.
On Monday, Klobuchar met the North Oaks woman who was permanently blinded in the 2013 crash.
Shashi Chopra was the passenger in a 2002 BMW driven by her husband and got into a minor accident near their home last year. The airbag exploded with such force that she was permanently blinded.
"The last words I heard was my son saying, 'Don't worry mom, we're here for you.' I don't know after that what happened," Chopra said, sitting at her dining room table with Klobuchar. "But I know I went through living hell. I saw death in the face."
Doctors performed four surgeries on Chopra's eyes, but say she will never regain her sight.
"I haven't seen a ray of sunlight in the last one and a half year," she told Klobuchar. "I am just living in a world of darkness."
More than 8 million cars have been recalled to fix the faulty Takata airbag inflator, which may have caused at least five deaths and many serious injuries.
The Chopra family says they did their own investigation into the possibility of a defective airbag and didn't hear from Takata until 18 months later.
Last week at a Senate hearing, a Takata executive apologized to families affected.
"Our sincerest condolences go out to all those who have suffered in these accidents, and to their families," Hiroshi Shimizu, Senior Vice President of the Takata Corporation, said.
Klobuchar called on national transportation officials to broaden their investigation of Takata airbags, warning that even minor crashes could be fatal.
"Minor accidents would end up killing people," Klobuchar said. "And they killed people not because of the accident. They killed people because of the airbag."
Klobuchar also said she is concerned that Takata knew about its defective airbags as long ago as 2004, but continued to produce them and sometimes waited years to alert consumers.