“DOT should not have to place itself s in the middle of a massive safety recall; record setting civil penalties are not something to brag about; and American drivers should not have to worry that a device created to save their life might actually take it”, Foxx said.
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What US regulators call “high priority” recalls involve more than 23 million inflators, 19 million vehicles and 12 automakers. The total number of ammonium nitrate airbags on the road “is unknown”, NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said.
The regulator said Takata had been told to prioritise the recall “so the greatest safety risks are addressed first”.
The settlement is expected to be unveiled Tuesday afternoon. Takata denied the allegation and had reportedly, with Honda, assured the regulators that the airbag explosions were linked to specific, isolated manufacturing issues.
Takata also faces a U.S. Justice Department investigation and multiple private legal actions.
“The penalty seems small compared to the consequences of the concealment and disregard” for the law, complained Democratic Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal, a frequent NHTSA and Takata critic. Most of those injured or killed live in high-humidity states that border the Gulf of Mexico. The injuries included severe neck cuts and facial injuries, as well as the loss of eyesight and hearing. Investigators have said that the exploding airbags could have been caused by the airbags inflating.
The consent order also lays out a schedule for recalling the airbags that are still actively in use, unless the company can prove they are safe or show otherwise why it has determined its inflators are prone to rupture. The no-confidence move from Takata’s largest customer comes directly after Takata received the aforementioned Consent Order from the NHTSA. The company said it has settled several lawsuits. “I think they will weather the storm, but they need to come clean”.
The defective airbags can explode with too much force, spewing metal shrapnel at vehicle occupants.
In response, Takata’s senior vice president for global quality assurance said it was studying the decision by Honda, which accounts for about 10 percent of the airbag giant’s global sales.
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The automaker did not specify what alternatives it would use, but Honda is already buying more inflators from Takata rivals including Autoliv, TRW Automotive Inc and Daicel Corp. The US Environmental Protection Agency, for example, has said Volkswagen AG is potentially liable for billions of dollars in fines for installing illegal software on almost 500,000 U.S. diesel models since 2009. Regulators, who started investigating Takata in June 2014, have also reportedly allotted an independent monitor to probe the airbag-maker’s safety practices for five years.
