A pregnant woman dies at 30 km/h - the airbag killed her, not the crash

Healthcare Mysteries Uncovered · Jul 24, 2026 · 23m

A pregnant woman dies at 30 km/h - the airbag killed her, not the crash

Humid air, a cheap propellant and a sealed safety device turned a minor 30 km/h crash in Malaysia into a fatal event: a metal fragment from the inflator sliced a 42-year-old pregnant woman’s neck and she died at the scene - her daughter born afterward survived only three days. How did ammonium nitrate, a moisture-sensitive propellant, end up inside inflators meant to save lives, and why were so many inflators still unrepaired as of September 2024?

In this episode, we trace the history of the company that began with…