An eighth fatality in the U.S. has been linked to a defective air bag made by Takata, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Wednesday.

A young man near Pittsburgh becomes the eighth death in the U.S. and ninth globally where a driver or passenger air bag released and ruptured following an accident and shards from the defective inflator caused serious injuries. There have also been almost 100 injuries.

Shigehisa Takada, CEO of Japanese air bag maker Takata Corp., speaks at a news conference in Tokyo in November. Kyodo News via AP, File

The unidentified minor was driving a relative’s used 2001 Honda Accord coupe that was under recall. The accident occurred July 22 and the boy sustained severe injuries and died a few days later.

NHTSA only learned of the accident Dec. 17 when contacted by the family’s lawyer, said NHTSA spokesman Gordon Trowbridge. NHTSA has tentatively concluded it is a rupture injury and is inspecting the vehicle to confirm it.

Honda, which recently learned of the rupture, expressed sympathy for the family.

“We are working hard to understand this crash and the cause of the injuries that resulted in this fatality. Honda has not yet had the opportunity to inspect the vehicle, and we are coordinating with representatives of the family, NHTSA and Takata to inspect the vehicle as quickly as possible to evaluate if the Takata airbag inflator ruptured in this crash,” the company said in a statement.

Honda said numerous attempts were made to contact the current and previous owners of the car to notify them of the recall but the repairs were never made. An additional notice was sent to the current owner one day before the crash.

Honda and NHTSA both issued new pleas Wednesday for car owners to check if their vehicles are subject to recall by contacting their dealers or using the safercar.gov. website to look up their VIN number. Honda also lists its affected vehicles at www.recalls.honda.com and www.recalls.acura.com

And if they are subject to a recall, owners are urged to get their vehicle repaired as soon as possible.

“It is why we are working so hard to get these defective airbags off the road,” Trowbridge said. “Every day that an inflator remains in a vehicle means there is more danger.”

It is the latest chapter in a sad saga that is far from over.

In a call to update reporters, Trowbridge said NHTSA has expanded the models being recalled to replace faulty inflators.

New on the list are the 2005-2008 Mazda 6, 2002-2004 Honda CR-V and 2005-2008 Subaru Legacy and Outback. The vehicles have been added because they use the same inflator as other models or model years that have been identified through additional testing and field data to pose a risk.

The additions add about 200,000 vehicles to a recall that now covers 19 million vehicles that have 23 million inflators. Some need both driver and passenger side air bags replaced.

Eventually every inflator that Takata has made using ammonium nitrate will be replaced. Other air bag manufacturers are making parts to help automakers with the massive recall. About 70 percent of the replacement air bags are made by companies other than Takata.

On a more positive note, Trowbridge said the pace of repairs is accelerating.

In the two weeks leading up to Dec. 4, 950,000 repairs were done, which is more than double the 400,000 replaced in the two-week period that ended Nov. 6.

To date, 27.3 percent of recalled driver side air bags have been replaced and 25.8 percent of passenger side bags. In regions with high humidity, where the air bags are more prone to exploding, the completion rate is 34.4 percent for driver side air bags and 31.8 percent for the passenger side. NHTSA has said repairs to vehicles in these areas must be complete by March 2016.

The vehicle involved in the Pittsburgh accident had spent several years in the Gulf Coast region.

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