Takata is facing global investigations into the safety of its airbags. The company has submitted its response to a 36-question special order by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, spokesman Toyohiro Hishikawa said by phone.
NHTSA had said the supplier needed to respond by Dec. 1 or face a USD35 million fine. The order sought information on factory quality control, use of contaminated or improperly formulated propellant and a complete accounting of deaths and injuries, among other questions. Takata also faces a hearing by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday and must respond by Dec. 2 to NHTSA’s demand that driver’s side airbag recalls be expanded nationwide.
As part of Japan’s Automobile Recycling Law implemented in 2005, dismantlers are required to deploy or remove the airbags before scrapping the vehicles. They are asked to report any malfunction during the process to automakers to investigate whether a recall is needed.
The transport ministry is requiring carmakers to report any scrapyard ruptures as soon as possible and has set up a group that meets daily with Takata to monitor the progress of the recalls. The ministry doesn’t have statistics on the percentage of recalls that originated from malfunction reports from scrapyards.
Takata’s airbags are linked to at least four deaths in Honda Motor Co. vehicles in the U.S., where the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is trying to determine why the devices are deploying with too much force and shooting metal shrapnel at vehicle occupants.
