Takata exec due back in hot seat over faulty airbags
Hiroshi Shimizu (centre), senior vice president for global quality assurance for Takata Corporation, prepares to testify before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on November 20, 2014, on the Takata airbag defects and the vehicle recall process. He has been called back to Washington for a new hearing. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
- Takata is accused of knowing for years that its airbags can deploy with excessive explosive power and send shrapnel into a car's passengers, without making them public. At least five driver deaths have been linked to the faulty airbags.
- The affected automakers are Honda, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota.
WASHINGTON,
The US House of Representatives has called a senior Takata executive back to Washington for a new hearing over the company's faulty airbags tied to several deaths and hundreds of injuries.
Hiroshi Shimizu, Takata's senior vice president for global quality assurance, has been asked to testify on December 3, the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Tuesday.
Also called to testify are a top official of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has urged a nationwide recall of vehicles with certain Takata-made driver's seat airbags, and representatives from Honda, Toyota and BMW.
Takata is accused of knowing for years that its airbags can deploy with excessive explosive power and send shrapnel into a car's passengers, without making them public. At least five driver deaths have been linked to the faulty airbags.
Stephanie Erdman of Destin, Florida, who was seriously injured by the airbag explosion in her Honda Civic during a traffic accident last year, testifies during a hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee November 20, 2014 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. PHOTO | AFP
SAFETY RECALLS
The hearing of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade will examine the management and response by industry and the NHTSA to the defective Takata airbags.
"Americans are weary of ever-expanding safety recalls and we need to know that there is an adequate plan in place to address safety risks.
The manufacturers, suppliers, and regulators all bear responsibility in keeping drivers and their families safe," said Lee Terry, head of the subcommittee.
So far this year some 16 million vehicles from 10 automakers worldwide have been recalled.
The affected automakers are Honda, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota.
Shimizu testified at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last week, saying his company took responsibility for three US deaths related to what he labelled "anomalies" in its airbags.
But he did not expand that acceptance of responsibility to a broader series of airbags installed for at least a decade in millions of cars from the 10 major manufacturers.
On Monday two senior senators criticized Shimizu's November 20 testimony as inadequate and called on Takata to furnish them with 14 years of extensive records and data on the company's faulty airbags.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Shimizu was unable to satisfactorily answer many of the questions posed to him," they said in a letter to company chief executive Shigehisa Takada.
"As a result, we still have many significant questions about the circumstances surrounding Takata's manufacturing of defective airbags and their widespread distribution and installation in vehicles sold and driven in the United States," they said.
