Takata Protests Widened U.S. Airbag Recall

Takata Corp., whose defective airbag inflators are being recalled on a regional basis in the U.S., warns that broadening the campaigns could hamper efforts to replace the devices where the likelihood of their failure is highest.

Ten carmakers are already recalling some 8 million cars with Takata airbag inflators that could explode when triggered. The campaigns are limited to high-humidity regions, where the problem appears to be concentrated.

But on Tuesday the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration demanded that carmakers expand those regional recalls to include the same models throughout the country. The agency says it based the demand on the analysis of a single failure of a Takata inflator in a car located outside the recall zone.

Takata says its own tests of nearly 1,000 similar inflators removed from vehicles outside the recall zone found zero failures. It contends that turning the regional recalls into national campaigns will exacerbate a shortage of replacement inflators and delay repairs in higher-risk areas.

Meanwhile, NHTSA has issued two orders demanding extremely detailed information from Takata and 10 carmakers in an attempt to clarify the true scope of the crisis. Both orders set a Dec. 5 deadline for responses.

The agency wants manufacturers to chronicle their tests of Takata inflators in vehicles outside the high-humidity zone and report what they know about Takata's own tests of such devices.

NHTSA's special order to Takata was triggered by a Reuters report saying the company had altered the formula for its inflator propellant. The agency wants Takata to detail its manufacturing process, describe any changes to the propellant and identify every employee involved in developing, testing and evaluating both the defective inflators and their replacement units.