Roundup: September death confirmed as 8th air bag casualty; Office Depot shareholders approve sale to Staples

September death confirmed as 8th air bag casualty

A woman who died in a Los Angeles-area car crash in September is the eighth person killed by exploding air bags made by Takata Corp. of Japan, federal safety regulators and Honda Motor Co. confirmed Friday.

The woman was identified in a lawsuit as Jewel Brangman, 26, who died of neck and head injuries when the driver's air bag in her rented 2001 Honda Civic inflated with too much force and spewed metal shrapnel.

Honda and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration each said Friday that they had determined the air bag caused her death. She is the seventh victim in the United States and eighth worldwide, including a woman in Malaysia.

Also Friday, General Motors added more than 243,000 compact hatchbacks in the United States and Canada to the Takata air bag recall. The company said that the expanded recall for passenger air bags covers the Pontiac Vibe from 2003 through 2007. The cars were designed by Toyota and made at jointly owned factory in California. They're twins of the Toyota Matrix, which was recalled earlier.

Office Depot shareholders OK sale to Staples

Office Depot shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of the company's $6.3 billion acquisition by one-time rival Staples.

The deal, announced in February, is part of a rapid consolidation in the office supply sector that has been hammered by technological changes in the workplace and by competition from Amazon.com and other online retailers.

Staples Inc. has closed dozens of stores in preparation. By the end of the year, it expects to have shuttered as many as 225.

Office Depot Inc., based in Boca Raton, Fla., has said it expects to close up to 135 stores by the end of 2015.