A woman has been killed after a truck carrying airbag parts made by Japan's troubled Takata exploded in a massive fireball on a US highway, the firm confirmed Tuesday. Four others were injured when the vehicle, which was on its way to a company factory, erupted "like a big bomb", local police said. The damage was so extensive that the dead woman had to be identified through dental records, they said.
"It created a big crater," said Tom Schmerber, the sheriff of Maverick County, Texas, where the August 22 accident occurred. "It burned and killed a woman in a house 30 feet (nine metres) away. Her body was completely disintegrated, but they did manage to find two teeth so they could identify her." However, Tokyo-based Takata - hammered by a defect in its airbag inflators linked to at least 15 deaths and scores of injuries globally - denied the accident was related to the problem part.