Japanese air- bag maker fined $ 70M
DETROIT — U. S. auto safety regulators fined Japan’s Takata Corp. $ 70 million Tuesday for concealing evidence for years that its air bags are prone to explode — a defect linked to eight deaths and more than 100 injuries worldwide.
Under an agreement with the government, Takata will phase out the manufacturing of air- bag inflators that use ammonium nitrate, the propellant blamed for the explosions. It also agreed to a schedule over the next two years for replacing many of the devices already in use.
And unless it can prove they are safe, Takata may have to recall all of its inflators, even those not yet implicated.
The company admitted that it knew for years that the inflators were defective but that it fended off recalls by failing to tell the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“Delay, misdirection and refusal to acknowledge the truth allowed a serious problem to become a massive crisis,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.
In a statement, Takata Chief Executive Officer Shigehisa Takada said the company regrets the circumstances that led to the agreement and will work to develop a new generation of inflators. He said the settlement will “enable us to focus on rebuilding the trust of automakers, regulators and the driving public.”
Under the five- year pact, the safety agency can increase the penalty to a record $ 200 million if the company fails to abide by the terms.
The biggest fine ever handed out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is the $ 105 million levied against Fiat Chrysler earlier this year for failing to report safety problems and follow through on 23 recalls.
Takata’s inflators can rupture and hurl shrapnel at drivers and passengers in a crash. So far, about 23.4 million driver’sside and passenger- side inflators have been recalled on 19.2 million U. S. vehicles sold by 12 automakers.
Mark Rosekind, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Takata’s misconduct dates to at least 2009, when it failed to tell the agency about the problem. Automakers must notify the agency of defects within five days of discovering them.
Regulators said Takata also provided them with “selective, incomplete or inaccurate data” for years.
Honda, Takata’s biggest customer, essentially fired the supplier Tuesday. All of the air bag- related deaths reported so far have been in Honda vehicles.
Takata still faces hundreds of lawsuits and a federal criminal investigation.
“The penalty seems small compared to the consequences of the concealment and disregard” for the law, complained Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D- Conn., a frequent NHTSA and Takata critic.