Takata hit with US criminal probe over exploding airbags

TOKYO ( AFP) – Takata confirmed Friday that US justice authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the embattled Japanese autoparts firm over exploding airbags linked to at least five driver deaths.

The Tokyo-based company said it was ''dealing with'' a subpoena from a grand jury in New York targeting the defect, but it declined to give further details.

'' We have received it,'' a Takata spokesman said.

''Of course, we are dealing with it. We have also received an instruction from NHTSA (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the United States) to deal with it,'' he added.

The US federal grand jury and NHTSA have also told the firm to submit documents related to airbag problems, Takata said.

The safety watchdog has expanded its ''urgent'' warning to owners of cars with affected airbags to take them to dealers to fix the problem immediately.

Some 16 million vehicles produced by 10 global automakers have been recalled worldwide over worries that the Takata airbags in them can explode when inflating, firing potentially deadly shrapnel at the car's occupants.

Affected automakers include Honda, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota.

Four deaths have been reported in the United States claiming to be related to the problem. On Thursday, Honda said an exploding airbag had also killed a woman in Malaysia, and it recalled a further 170,000 vehicles worldwide over the issue.

On Friday, Honda's Malaysian unit said the unnamed woman was preg- nant and that her unborn baby also died following the accident.

''Our hearts and sympathy go out to the individual and family who have been affected by this tragic accident,'' Honda spokesman Jordhatt Johan told AFP.

'' A woman passed away and the foetus died.''

Police reportedly investigated at least one driver death in the US as a murder due to the woman's grisly injuries, until their focus switched to the vehicle's airbag.

The US criminal investigation comes amid lawsuits and regulatory probes against the 80-year- old company, whose top executives have been largely mute on the mounting crisis.

'' When companies put their own profits ahead of the lives of American consumers, they deserve to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,'' US Senator Claire McCaskill said.