Takata has declined to expand air bag recalls across the US – from only high humidity regions – as major customer Honda told a congressional hearing in Washington today (3 December) it would consider such a recall.
According to Bloomberg News, in a letter yesterday to the the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Takata said there was no reliable evidence a nationwide recall was necessary and it would be better to focus repairs on high humidity areas where the potential for air bag malfunctions is higher. An executive vice president at the supplier, Hiroshi Shimizu, reiterated that message at today’s hearing.
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Bloomberg said the the response didn’t satisfy lawmakers who raised concerns of lingering safety risks in both driver and front passenger air bags in millions of cars.
Meanwhile, a Honda Motor North America executive vice president, Rick Schostek, told the subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee the automaker was ready to to expand regional recalls on Takata inflators to nationwide and would give drivers free loan cars until repairs could be made.
Schostek said limited availability of replacement parts meant Honda would give priority to vehicles in high humidity areas of the US – which had been previously recalled – and was working with two other airbag manufacturers, Autoliv and Daicel, to boost production of new inflators, the air bag components at the centre of the problem.
According to Bloomberg, Takata is able only to produce about 300,000 kits a month and, despite plans to increase volume to up to 450,000 in January, it would take more than a year to get dealers enough parts to repair every affected car affected by the recall.
“We believe a part shortage may occur,” Schostek told the hearing.
“Until those parts are available, we will continue to discuss with NHTSA and Takata about how to prioritise repairs.”
NHTSA deputy administrator David Friedman reiterated his earlier request for Takata to implement a nationwide recall of driver’s side air bags in Honda, Ford, BMW, Chrysler Group and Mazda Motor vehicle models across various brands.
NHTSA also said it was reviewing Takata’s response and deciding on its next steps.
“NHTSA received Takata’s disappointing response to our demand for a national recall of certain driver’s side airbags,” Friedman told Bloomberg in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday. “Takata shares responsibility for keeping drivers safe and we believe anything short of a national recall does not live up to that responsibility.”
According to Bloomberg, Toyota and other customers have already called for independent testing to supplement Takata’s investigation.
“If Takata continues to stonewall on this recall, NHTSA is going to take them to court and their customers are going to leave them in droves,” Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, told Bloomberg. “I don’t see a winning scenario in this for Takata to fight a national recall.”
Takata has said its air bag testing has found no problems with inflators outside high-humidity areas.
Bloomberg also reported that, in Mexico, Takata was told by the labour ministry to take 171 measures to improve health and safety at its Monclova plant.
The report added Takata had identified flaws in manufacturing and quality control at the Mexico plant and two US factories that have contributed to its air bag problems. At the Monclova facility, the chemical propellant wafers that lead its devices to deploy were exposed to moisture, raising risk of combustions that break up metal and plastic air bag parts.
Earlier report here
