Takata Airbag Lawsuit: Injury Claims, Trust Fund, and Recalls

If you own a vehicle affected by the Takata airbag recall or you were hurt by a ruptured inflator, a Takata airbag lawsuit can take one of several forms: a claim against the bankruptcy-funded injury trust and criminal restitution fund, participation in one of the automaker class action settlements for economic losses, or an individual personal injury or wrongful death suit against Takata and the automaker. Which path applies depends on whether you were physically injured, which automaker made your vehicle, and when the incident happened.

The defect at the center of every one of these cases is the same. Takata used ammonium nitrate as the propellant in tens of millions of airbag inflators. Over time, heat and humidity break the compound down, and a degraded inflator can burn too fast in a crash, blowing apart its metal canister and firing shrapnel into the cabin. The defect has been linked to at least 28 deaths and more than 400 injuries in the United States, and roughly 67 million inflators have been recalled — the largest automotive recall in U.S. history.¹

If You Were Injured or a Family Member Was Killed

Two funds pay personal injury and wrongful death claims tied to Takata inflators, and both are administered by Special Master Eric D. Green. You use a single form to apply to either or both.

The Individual Restitution Fund (IRF) is the $125 million pool created by Takata’s 2017 criminal plea agreement. It is reserved for people who suffered a personal injury or wrongful death from the defect and had not already resolved their claims.²

The Takata Airbag Tort Compensation Trust Fund (TATCTF) was created through Takata’s Chapter 11 reorganization plan, confirmed on February 21, 2018. One law firm involved in the litigation has described the personal injury trust as valued between $90 million and $137 million.³

Eligibility is narrow. The injury or death must have been caused by the rupture or aggressive deployment of a Takata PSAN inflator. Ordinary deployment injuries such as bruises are not covered, and neither are purely economic losses like repair bills.⁴

The deadlines depend on when the accident occurred:

Accidents before April 10, 2018: the filing deadline was April 10, 2021.
Accidents on or after April 10, 2018: you have the later of three years from the accident or your state’s statute of limitations.⁴

One rule matters more than any other if your vehicle is a Honda, Acura, Nissan, or Infiniti. Those manufacturers are the only automakers currently participating in the trust’s Participating Original Equipment Manufacturer program, and filing through the trust is the exclusive remedy for claims against them. For any other automaker, filing with the trust does not block a separate lawsuit, but the state statute of limitations on that lawsuit is not paused while your trust claim is pending.⁵

One current caveat: the trust has said an unexpected increase in the value of eligible claims has strained its resources. New award valuations are on hold while economic experts re-examine projections, though outstanding valuations are being honored at existing point values.⁴

If You Had Economic Losses but No Injury

Economic-loss claims — diminished vehicle value, out-of-pocket repair costs, rental expenses, lost wages tied to the recall — were consolidated in a federal multidistrict litigation, In re: Takata Airbag Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 1:15-md-02599, before Senior U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno in the Southern District of Florida.⁶ The MDL handles class action claims, not personal injuries.

Eight automakers have reached settlements in the MDL totaling more than $1.5 billion.⁷ Whether you can still file depends on the automaker:

Toyota, BMW, Subaru, and Mazda settled for a combined $553 million in May 2017, covering 32 million recalled airbags, with reimbursement for out-of-pocket costs, loaner vehicles, and enhanced recall outreach.⁸
Nissan reached a $97.7 million preliminary settlement in August 2017 covering about 4.4 million vehicles, with reimbursement for towing, lost wages, and a free rental car program.⁹
Ford’s $299.1 million settlement received final approval on December 20, 2018. Its claims program provided out-of-pocket reimbursements up to $500 per class member and ran through March 2025.¹⁰
Volkswagen and Audi settled for $42 million, covering more than one million model-year 2005–2014 vehicles, with final approval on April 4, 2022. Current and former owners can file claims through July 8, 2026 for out-of-pocket reimbursements and residual distribution payments capped at $250.¹¹

Litigation against General Motors, Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler), and Mercedes-Benz was still ongoing as of the most recent available court filings.⁷ If you own or owned one of those vehicles, no MDL settlement is yet available to claim from.

Individual Injury Lawsuits Outside the Trust

For serious injuries or deaths involving automakers other than Honda, Acura, Nissan, and Infiniti, filing an individual lawsuit against Takata and the automaker remains an option alongside a trust claim. Two cases illustrate what those look like.

In Mincey v. Takata, Patricia Mincey was driving a 2001 Honda Civic in a minor collision on June 15, 2014, when her airbag deployed with enough force to break her neck and leave her paralyzed. She remained hospitalized on a ventilator for nearly two years before dying in April 2016 at age 77.¹² Honda settled and was dismissed in February 2016, and Takata settled on July 15, 2016, just before a hearing that could have opened the door to punitive damages and a civil deposition of the company’s CEO.¹³

More recently, in May 2025, a Florida jury awarded $3 million to Jose Hernandez, a Miami man who suffered permanent nerve damage after a metal shard from a defective Takata inflator struck his arm during a 2020 crash in a 2005 Honda Civic. The award included $2 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages against Takata and Honda, with the jury finding that Honda’s recall-notification efforts had been insufficient.³

If Your Car Still Has an Unrepaired Airbag

The recall is roughly 98% complete, but the remaining 2% is still more than five million vehicles in the U.S., concentrated in Texas, California, and Florida.¹⁴

Some of those vehicles carry active “do not drive” warnings. In August 2024, Ford and Mazda issued warnings covering a combined 457,000 unrepaired vehicles with non-desiccated Takata inflators, with towing and loaner vehicles arranged for affected owners.¹⁵ In February 2026, Stellantis issued a similar warning for roughly 225,000 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram vehicles.¹⁶ Certain 2001–2003 Honda and Acura models with the oldest “Alpha” inflators carry a standing stop-driving order because their rupture risk is considered extreme.¹⁷

All recall repairs are free. Check your VIN at NHTSA.gov/recalls at least twice a year, or call NHTSA’s recall hotline at 888-327-4236.¹ Getting the repair done doesn’t waive any claim you already have; it prevents the next one.

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