HMC Honda Motor Co Ltd

By Mike Spector 

At least four auto makers confirmed equipping new vehicles with defective Takata Corp. air bags that eventually will need to be replaced, according to Democrats on a U.S. Senate panel, further spotlighting government officials' challenges in tackling the largest automotive recall in the nation's history.

Toyota Motor Corp., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Volkswagen AG and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. have all confirmed equipping some new vehicles with rupture-prone Takata air bags that lack a drying agent, according to a report from U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Democrats. Those air bags, linked to the lion's share of deaths and injuries from ruptures, are legally allowed to be sold in vehicles but must be recalled by the end of 2018.

The Takata air bags use ammonium nitrate as a propellant in inflaters, a chemical that can destabilize amid prolonged exposure to moisture and heat, leading to explosions that spray shrapnel in vehicle cabins. The inflaters become riskier with age, officials have said. The safety problem is linked to at least 11 deaths and more than 100 injuries world-wide.

Nearly 70 million air bags are being recalled in the U.S. after a recent expansion that included devices without a drying agent to prevent moisture from building. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is coordinating the recalls, prioritizing states where air bags are most at risk of exploding. Regulators are monitoring Takata and can order additional recalls under certain circumstances. Officials have said some air bags will have to be replaced more than once as newer devices, still deemed problematic, replace older, riskier air bags in the interim.

Meanwhile, federal car-safety regulators slapped a Chevrolet dealership in Arizona with a $40,000 fine after a two-year probe found that it sold recalled vehicles that hadn't been repaired, violating U.S. law, according to documents posted on the NHTSA website. Regulators said the dealership has improved procedures.

Dealer operator Jerry Moore said the Chevrolet dealership fixed a flaw that regulators had uncovered and had agreed to move forward. He added that many GM dealers were at the time overwhelmed with recalls. Automotive News reported earlier on the settlement.

Taken together, the actions furthered an unprecedented U.S. government crackdown on the auto industry for safety lapses that have prompted congressional hearings, investigations and financial penalties. In November Takata agreed to fines for failing to alert regulators to defective air bags in a timely manner as legally required, and the company faces further penalties depending on the outcome of a U.S. Justice Department probe. Takata has said it is cooperating with government officials.

Wednesday's report on faulty air bags was released by Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.) a persistent critic of Takata and car-safety regulators' handling of widespread recalls affecting the safety devices. It found that Toyota expects to produce roughly 175,000 vehicles with the defective air bags starting from this past March and ending in July 2017.

At least one current Fiat Chrysler model contains a front passenger-side air bag that uses an inflater lacking a drying agent, the report found. The Toyota and Fiat Chrysler models weren't specified.

The report cited a handful of models with defective air bags lacking a drying agent. They are the 2016 and 2017 Mitsubishi i-MiEV; 2016 Volkswagen CC, 2016 Audi TT and 2017 Audi R8. Audi is Volkswagen's luxury unit. An Audi spokesman said Volkswagen launched a recall in February and is following regulatory guidelines to replace certain Takata air bags.

A Fiat Chrysler spokesman said the company isn't equipping any new vehicles with parts under recall. A Toyota spokesman said the car maker is phasing out the use of Takata air-bag inflaters lacking a drying agent in vehicles currently being built. Mitsubishi is working with another supplier to develop replacements for the air-bag inflaters in the two models lawmakers mentioned, with a recall expected in early 2017 once parts are available, a company spokesman said.

"Takata deeply regrets the incidents associated with its air-bag inflaters and is working aggressively to address the situation," a spokesman for the Japanese supplier said.

The report found that more than 2.1 million replacement air-bag inflaters containing ammonium nitrate without a drying agent had been installed in U.S. vehicles as of March. Democratic lawmakers suggested that sales of vehicles with those air bags be stopped until they are repaired.

The report also faulted lagging repairs to vehicles with defective air bags and urged Takata, regulators and auto makers to increase supply of devices that don't use ammonium nitrate. More than 70% of replacement air-bag inflaters are currently coming from manufacturers besides Takata, a U.S. official said.

A NHTSA spokesman called the air-bag recalls urgent and agreed repairs should be done faster. "While the agency recognizes there are constraints due to the size and complexity of the recall, NHTSA has called on auto makers to do more to find and fix vehicles more quickly," the spokesman said.

Honda Motor Co., Takata's largest customer, initially said 17,000 new vehicles were equipped with air-bag inflaters lacking a drying agent, the report said. But in a more recent discussion with lawmakers, Honda said no new vehicles were or would be equipped with such inflaters. A Honda spokesman said no current Honda or Acura vehicles for sale in the U.S. are being built with Takata air-bag inflaters lacking a drying agent.

Write to Mike Spector at mike.spector@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 02, 2016 02:50 ET (06:50 GMT)

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