NHTSA Narrows Plans for National Recall for Takata Airbags
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is pushing ahead with its demand that 10 carmakers expand their regional recalls of driver-side airbag inflators made by Takata Corp.
#regulations
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is pushing ahead with its demand that 10 carmakers expand their regional recalls of driver-side airbag inflators made by Takata Corp.
But the agency says it doesn't yet have enough evidence to justify a nationwide recall of the devices in passenger-side airbags.
NHTSA Deputy Administrator David Friedman notes the complexity of the Takata recalls in a statement prepared for Wednesday's hearing of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. He explains that the agency is overseeing three categories of Takata recalls:
1. Nationwide recalls to replace inflators flawed by manufacturing defects
2. Regional recalls in high-humidity areas to replace passenger-side inflators that are sensitive to moisture
3. NHTSA's new demand that carmakers recall driver-side inflators in all 50 states
Takata opposes expanding the second group of campaigns or launching the third recall at all without more evidence that either is necessary.In a prepared statement for tomorrow's hearing, Takata's quality chief says recent tests of thousands of inflators culled from scrapped vehicles have uncovered failures of passenger-side airbag inflators in high-humidity areas. But he says the tests revealed no failures for passenger-side inflators from other parts of in the country, and no failures of driver-side inflators from anywhere in the U.S.
Separately, Takata Chairman Shigehisa Takada announced today the company will form an independent quality assurance panel to audit its inflator manufacturing operations. The group will be chaired by former U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner.
RELATED CONTENT
-
Study: How States Should Update Traffic Laws for Autonomous Cars
U.S. states should require that all automated cars have a licensed driver on board, suggests a study by the Governors Highway Safety Assn.
-
Tesla Maxes Out on Tax Credit as U.S. Sales Reach 200,000
Tesla Inc. says it will deliver its 200,000th electric vehicle in the U.S. this month, thereby triggering a phase-out of the $7,500 federal tax credit its vehicles have enjoyed.
-
Porsche Racing to the Future
Porsche is part of VW Group and it is one of the companies that is involved in putting vehicles on the U.S. market with diesel engines in violation of EPA emissions regulations, specifically model year 2013–2016 Porsche Cayenne Diesel 3.0-liter V6 models.