“We are accelerating Takata recalls to get safe air bags into American vehicles more quickly… and addressing the long-term risk of Takata’s use of a suspect propellant”.
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Since 2013, a few 23.4 million airbag inflators have been recalled on 19.2 million USA vehicles from 12 automakers. “No one deserves to have an exploding airbag installed in their vehicle; a safety recall is a burden”, Mark Rosekind, Ph.D., NHTSA administrator, said.
“It provided incomplete, inaccurate and misleading information to NHTSA, to the companies using its inflators and to the public”, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said.
USA automotive safety regulators on Tuesday are expected to announce that Japanese auto supplier Takata has agreed to accept penalties for failures involving exploding airbags that have killed at least eight people and injured at least 98, according to multiple reports.
It’s worth noting, however, that only $70 million of that is demanded in cash up front, and the remaining $130 million only comes due if Takata fails to either clean up its act, or if NHTSA finds they made additional deadly screw-ups. In the deal, Takata admitted that it knew the inflators were defective, but failed to recall them in a timely manner.
Regulators as part of the settlement also cited Takata for other lapses related to the company’s interaction with regulators, the person said.
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.
The order by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires Takata to stop making and selling the airbag component known to have caused the malfunctions. “And until (Takata) can prove that it’s safe, we will not see ammonium nitrate in these air bags in the future”. The agency continues to investigate whether the company’s side air bag inflators also should be recalled, the AP reported.
Takata said the chemical would be phased out by the end of 2018.
The largest fine previously levied by the NHTSA was $105 million.
In the United States, Honda said its recall completion rate is 41 percent and exceeds 42 percent in the region with the highest heat and humidity targeted by NHTSA as most critical.
But there were few answers for consumers who are anxious about whether the airbags in their vehicles contain the chemical and whether they are now subject to the Takata recall.
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Takata will operate under the supervision of a safety monitor selected by the NHTSA for the next five years, as part of the settlement agreement.
