Takata Corp, which has been under fire for providing defective airbags to vehicles in the United States, has told the U.S. Senate that the nationwide recall demanded by NHTSA is not necessary.
The company's SVP of quality assurance Hiroshi Shimizu acknowledged that Takata was "deeply sorry and anguished" for each time the airbag inflators provided by the Japanese supplier did not perform as expected.
However, when asked to take full responsibility for the five deaths that resulted from the faulty airbags, Shimizu was hesitant.
"We recognize that three victims' cases are related to our products," Shimizu, after much deliberation, told the committee on Nov. 20. "The other two are under investigation."
The Japanese company also feels "strongly" that the recalls focus on areas that have "high absolute humidity."
"Our best information supports the view that these regions must be the priority for the replacement of airbags," said Shimizu.
When Senator Edward J. Markey confronted Shimizu whether Takata Corp. was in favor of a nationwide recall instead of simply limiting the recall to humid areas, where the airbags have malfunctioned, Shimizu said that he could not answer the question with a simple yes or no.
David Friedman, NHTSA's deputy administrator found Takata's antagonism toward a nationwide recall "unacceptable" and "frustrating."
Takata seems to lack a sense of urgency in resolving the issue. Even though the company is prepared to ramp up production -- from 300,000 units per month -- to aid the replacement process, it says that it will likely be unable to move swiftly to produce sufficient parts.
"Even if we increase to 450,000, maybe still that's not speedy enough," said Shimizu.
Nearly 16 million vehicles that deployed the faulty airbags made by Takata Corp. have been recalled globally. Of this number, 10 million recalls were in the U.S. alone.
