WASHINGTON (AP) – The global quality chief of Takata Corp. apologized and an official from Honda acknowledged the automaker broke a disclosure law as a Senate committee put the spotlight on a growing problem with exploding air bags.
Hiroshi Shimizu, Takata’s senior vice president of quality, said the Japanese parts supplier is “deeply sorry and anguished” about each instance when its air bag inflators didn’t perform as designed. The air bags have been blamed for five deaths worldwide. Shimizu said the company accepts full responsibility for three deaths, but said that two others were still under investigation.
In the U.S., more than 8 million cars have been recalled to fix the potentially faulty inflators, which can explode with too much force and spew metal fragments at passengers. Some of the recalls have been limited to high-humidity states mainly in the South.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said that prolonged exposure to high humidity can cause the inflator propellant to burn too fast, blowing apart a metal canister. This week it demanded that Takata and a handful of automakers broaden a recall for driver’s side air bags to make it nationwide.
Shimizu told the Commerce Committee that Takata believes the regional recall is sufficient. He said tests have not revealed any inflator ruptures outside the high-humidity zones. So far, Ford, Mazda, Chrysler and Honda, the companies covered by the agency’s demand, have not expanded their recalls.