Takata Air-Bag Recall More Than Doubles in the U.S.
May 04 2016 - 2:40PM
Dow Jones News
Federal regulators ordered auto makers to recall up to another
40 million rupture-prone Takata Corp. air bags, more than doubling
the largest automotive safety campaign in U.S. history.
An estimated additional 35 million to 40 million Takata air-bag
inflaters that employ ammonium nitrate as a propellant and lack a
drying agent to prevent moisture must be recalled by the end of
2019, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said
Wednesday.
The recalls will be conducted by affected auto makers in five
phases starting this month, the agency said.
Regulators said they had determined a three-pronged root cause
for Takata air bags rupturing: the age of inflaters, prolonged
exposure to moisture and fluctuating high temperatures. U.S.
officials, Takata and auto makers have spent years attempting to
determine what causes the air bags to explode and spray shrapnel, a
defect linked to 11 deaths and more than 100 injuries globally.
The recall adds to 28.8 million air-bag inflaters affecting some
24 million vehicles already being recalled by 14 auto makers. There
still remain tens of millions of other Takata air bags that haven't
yet been recalled.
The U.S.'s top car-safety regulator determined the
more-than-35-million air bags posed an unreasonable safety risk and
decided to order the additional recalls after reviewing three
investigations of the problematic equipment conducted by Takata; a
group of 10 auto makers; and Honda Motor Co., the auto maker most
affected by the defective devices. U.S. officials confirmed
findings in the reports outlining the root cause of the air-bag
ruptures. Older vehicles with exposure to moisture and fluctuating
high temperatures will be recalled first.
The total number of vehicles affected by the expanded recall
won't be fully known until auto makers start submitting data to
regulators, but it is likely to be tens of millions. The result is
nearly one in every four of the 250 million vehicles currently on
U.S. roads is likely to be affected by the Takata recall.
"We are now talking about a large percentage of the air bags in
the U.S. vehicle population," said NHTSA Administrator Mark
Rosekind.
Mr. Rosekind said Takata cooperated with the latest recall
expansion and appeared to be "turning the corner" toward a better
safety and regulatory compliance culture. But he noted Takata
"misled, obscured and withheld information" from consumers,
regulators and auto makers. "We can't lose sight of that," he
said.
A Takata spokesman had no immediate comment. Takata has admitted
to manipulating test data and failing to alert regulators to
defective air bags in a timely manner as legally required.
Write to Mike Spector at mike.spector@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 04, 2016 14:25 ET (18:25 GMT)
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