Looks like many car buyers have paid for defective products in their cars for years. Takata is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges related to its recalled airbag inflators later today in the US. At the same time that Takata is under fire, a lawsuit alleges BMW, Ford, Honda, Nissan, and Toyota knew of problems with the airbags for years but continued to use them anyway.
“They were focused on the low price of Takata’s inflators and concerned that if they stopped using, they might not have a sufficient supply, which would prevent them from selling vehicles and generating billions of dollars in revenue,” said a report filed today by a lead plaintiff attorney in the US.
The allegations, which are detailed in very specific examples in the court filing, are partially based on documents from automakers. According to one allegation, car manufacturers kept using Takata inflators even after its own inflator expert warned against it. One of the automakers, although not mentioned by name in the filing, described the problem with Takata inflators as “one in which a passenger protection device was transformed into a killing weapon.” This admission allegedly came after an inflator ruptured in 2009.
“The automotive defendants were aware that rupture after rupture, both during testing and in the field, confirmed how dangerous and defective Takata’s air bags were,” the court document said. This isn’t the first time that automakers have been accused of hiding problems with Takata airbags. Looks like I will stay with my old car without any airbags and just drive safe and feeble.
