ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Central Florida woman is one of the victims at the center of an expanded recall on Honda vehicles. The automaker announced a recall Thursday on some of its 2001 Honda Civics and Accords.

Jennifer Griffin claims she was nearly killed when metal fragments shot out of her airbag during an accident in April.

Griffin, 26, was driving on Doctor Phillips Boulevard, when another car struck her 2001 Honda. The metal shards severed two arteries in her neck.

"It's scary to say the least. I didn't know I was that close to passing away,” Griffin said. “Apparently they said it's very lucky I even made it to the hospital alive."

Griffin’s accident also left her with a hole in her chest. She later found out that the thing that was supposed to protect her may have contributed to her injuries.

"As they started looking at it more and more they realized it was a metal thing that shot out of the air bag,” Griffin said.

It turns out what happened to Griffin also happened to other people across the country.

Honda determined a problem with a device that inflates the airbag on the driver’s side can produce too much pressure. That pressure can cause the device to rupture, sending metal fragments through the airbag. The pieces could injure or even kill a driver during an accident, officials said.

"When an air bag inflates it's supposed to help you not hurt you,” Don Fountain, attorney, said.

Griffin, along with several other victims, have filed a lawsuit against Honda. She believes the car maker should have done more to protect drivers.

"The reason I got the car is because it had the air bags and I had known a lot about Honda,” Griffin said. “They were supposed to be safe and taking care of the people who drive in their cars.”

Honda recognized there was a problem last year and did a limited recall. They didn’t decide to expand that recall to include Griffin’s model of car until recently, according to her attorney.

It’s not clear how many cars could have the defective airbags, officials said. For more information about the recall, call Honda at (800) 999-1009.