An internal Takata report has revealed that the automotive supplier failed to inform U.S. regulators about an air bag rupture in 2003.
In May 2003, the incident occurred in Switzerland and the Japanese company attributed it to overloading air bag inflator propellant, says a report from Dechert LLP, the law firm that represents Takata. The report suggests that the company swiftly made changes to the manufacturing process in the same year to avoid future issues with the problem.
According to the Dechert report, in February 2010, U.S. road authorities asked Takata to detail air bag recalls, but the company did not mention the air bag rupture case in Switzerland. However, a U.S.-based engineer questioned Takata about the omission. The air bag maker claims that the incident was omitted as there were no malfunctions reported with the air bag inflators and the ones sold to auto makers were not defective.
However, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a number of reports regarding defective air bag inflators made by Takata. The U.S. regulator pointed out that the defective inflators were also linked to at least 14 deaths and more than 100 injuries, which ignited the largest auto recall in the history.
About 70 million air bag inflators in the U.S. and in total 100 million inflators in the entire world made by Takata have been declared defective.
The internal report investigated Takata's process of handling the problem with the air bag inflators, which were first made in 2000.
A Takata spokesperson revealed that the report was needed by NHTSA as part of the company's settlement that was announced in November 2015.
"Takata has focused extensive resources on researching and testing of airbag inflators, including working with independent, world class, technical experts to identify the causes of the inflator failures," said Jared Levy, the spokesperson of Takata.
According to internal Takata documents along with other NHTSA documents, the U.S. regulator noted that prolonged exposure to heat and humidity along with the age of air bag inflators are the reason that caused the rupture.
In November 2015, the NHTSA fined the Japanese automotive supplier $70 million for failing to inform regulators of its defective air bags in a timely manner as required by the U.S. law.
The recall of air bags has cost a lot to the company. Takata is currently seeking cash assistance from private firms to get back in a sound financial condition. However, the company is still under investigation in the U.S. by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
