Side/window Air Bag problems of the 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse

Takata recall: my vehicle is involved in the NHTSA campaign number 15v338000. On October 29, 2016, I was driving towards my home. After being in the stopped position for the duration of the left turn signal at the intersection of fm 518 and fm 1128 in pearland, texas, the light turned green and I proceeded down 1128 toward my home. After proceeding about1 block, my passenger airbag suddenly deployed. There was no passenger in my vehicle and nothing on the passenger seat, either. There were no other cars on the road. I had the windows open and the top down. The airbag was blowing in front of my face, blocking my vision. The passenger visor flew off, hitting my left arm, as I was trying to keep the airbag out of my face to get safely off the road. I pulled over to the right, into a parking lot. My vehicle stopped on the edge of a ditch at the side of the parking lot, due to my vision being blocked. My driver side airbag went off when I hit the culvert of the ditch. Fire came out of my steering wheel and I smelled chemicals. The fire promptly went out. My left arm was on the armrest of the door with both forearm bones visibly broken. The arm was swollen and deformed. I only had the vehicle 26 days. I was taken to the nearest trauma unit. The radia and ulna in my forearm have been put back together with rods and screws. My vehicle has major damage to the front end, radiator, transmission, steering, axle, etc. 9 months later my armis not healed and I am still without a vehicle.

The contact owns a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse spyder. While driving approximately 15 mph, the passenger side air bag deployed without warning or impact. When the air bag deployed, the visor on the vehicle detached. The vehicle's top was down at the time and caused the passenger side air bag to blow in the wind, which hindered the contact's view of the road. The contact attempted to pull the vehicle over but, due to the distraction of the air bag blowing, the contact struck a culvert, which caused the vehicle to stop and the driver side air bag to deploy. When the air bag deployed, it released a small spark and there was a burning odor. The vehicle was towed to a aaa transmission approved shop who stated that the vehicle needed several repairs. The contact broke several bones in her left hand through the forearm. Medical attention was needed. A police report was filed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 135,000.

Consumer's vehicle was rear ended by another vehicle, causing consumer's vehicle to rear end the vehicle in front. Upon impact, neither driver driver's side nor passenger's side airbags deployed. As a result the driver impacted the steering wheel.