WASHINGTON: Two Democratic senators have called on Japanese auto parts company Takata to recall all cars containing its airbags after a faulty part was discovered in a 2015 model vehicle.
Takata has already recalled more than 34 million vehicles that were found to have faulty airbags that could explode when deployed in humid conditions.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said Thursday that the company should expand the recall to include all vehicles that contain its airbags after the discovery of defective part in a brand new 2015 Volkswagen Tiguan in St. Louis, Mo.
“Takata’s defective airbags have already caused at least eight deaths and more than one hundred injuries in the United States numbers that may increase as further cases come to light and it is essential for your company to do all it can to identify and address the cause of this problem,” the senators wrote to Takata’s North American executive vice president, Kevin Kennedy.
“In light of the most recent incident, which did not occur in one of the regions originally designated as ‘high humidity’, and which involved a 2015 vehicle not currently subject to recall, we urge you to voluntarily recall all vehicles containing Takata airbags,” the lawmakers said.
If the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration turns the Congressional request into a formal order and issues another special order against Takata or a recall request, millions of additional cars could be involved. In addition, millions more that have already been repaired might need to be fixed a second time.
In addition, late-model vehicles with Takata’s newest airbag inflatorsincluding those on the assembly line right now could be affected if Takata complies with the letter and releases its complete testing data. The company has until September 3 to respond, although the company is not legally bound to answer.
“This directly undercuts Takata’s continued insistence despite growing evidence to the contrary that the flaws in its airbag inflators are limited to prior designs in older model cars and only present when the airbags have prolonged exposure to extremely humid conditions,” the letter said.
Blumenthal and Markey have led hearings with Takata and General Motors on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and also authored several recall-related bills.
Both the Senators want Takata to create a compensation fund similar to the $625 million that GM has allocated to settle with nearly 400 victims of its ignition switch defect. At least eight people have died and 139 people have been injured from the defective airbags.
During a House committee hearing in June, Takata executive vice president Kevin Kennedy to whom the letter was addressed said the company was the only airbag supplier that used ammonium nitrate as a “main propellant” and that it would “rapidly” switch to another propellant due to its “bad reputation”.
Takata has come under fire since issuing a recall in late 2014 of about 8 million cars with faulty airbags that could explode when deployed in humid conditions. The recall was later expanded to include another 17 million cars after federal regulators put pressure on Takata.
The defective airbags were used in cars manufactured by companies including Honda, Lexus and Chrysler. Accidents involving the defective airbags have been linked to eight deaths so far.
Takata has resisted issuing a total recall of its airbags, arguing that problems with the parts have mostly been limited to areas of the US where weather conditions are humid.
