Takata has already begun producing alternative propellants using guanidine nitrate within the last two years. Government regulators will oversee the supply of replacement parts and will manage future recalls. CEO Shigehisa Takada speaks at a press conference in Tokyo.
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The U.S. Department of Transportation, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), has fined airbag manufacturer Takata with the largest civil penalty in USA history. This settlement is an important step forward for Takata that will enable us to focus on rebuilding the trust of automakers, regulators and the driving public. “DOT should not have to place itself in the middle of a massive safety recall”. Almost 19.2 million vehicles have been recalled due to the inflater issue in the USA alone while over 30 million cars have been recalled globally since 2008. Automakers must notify NHTSA of defects within five days of discovering them. In its consent order, the safety agency said that “in several instances, Takata produced testing reports that contained selective, incomplete, or inaccurate data”.
Honda has always been Takata’s largest customer. All of the deaths linked to the airbags occurred in Honda vehicles.
A lawsuit brought against Takata by the Solis family, detailed how Carlos Solis died earlier this year from the airbag fault following a minor road accident that he should have survived.
Democratic Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal on Tuesday renewed their call for Congress to remove the ceiling on penalties that NHTSA can levy. Most of those injured or killed live in high-humidity states that border the Gulf of Mexico.
In a settlement with federal officials, Takata agreed to declare that inflators in the airbags are defective and agreed to phase them out.
Investigators said the airbags can inflate with too much force during a crash and shoot out metal shards.
“No one deserves to have an exploding air bag installed in their vehicle”.
“Honda has taken a significant hit from this”, said Christopher Richter, senior analyst at consultants CLSA. In addition, “the company is dismissing a few of its employees as a result of our investigation”, Foxx said. “I think they will weather the storm, but they need to come clean”.
Under the Consent Order, Takata must phase out ammonium nitrate airbag propellant and recall “all remaining” ammonium nitrate inflators “by a prescribed schedule” unless it can prove to NHTSA that the inflators are safe, Rosekind said.
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NHTSA continues to investigate whether the company’s side airbag inflators also should be recalled. USA regulators said millions of cars equipped with potentially defective Takata air bags may not be repaired until the end of 2019 because not enough replacement parts are available. It said it’s also imposing additional oversight, including a new independent monitor, as well as requiring new safety practices.
