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Three Takata Whistleblowers to Split $1.7 Million
A trio of former Takata Corp. employees is in line to receive $1.7 million in awards for revealing that the company hid defects in its explosion-prone airbag inflators that have killed at least 22 people.
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A trio of former Takata Corp. employees is in line to receive $1.7 million in awards for revealing that the company hid defects in its explosion-prone airbag inflators that have killed at least 22 people.
Takata agreed yesterday to pay the three U.S. whistleblowers from a reserve fund created during the company’s bankruptcy proceedings, Reuters reports.
The news service notes that the three ex-employees also may become eligible to receive awards through a federal program created in 2015. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which was ordered to formulate a payout procedure no later than last June, hasn’t yet done so.
The 3-year-old law allows U.S. employees in the auto industry who flag major violations of federal vehicle safety rules to receive 10%-30% of fines collected as a result of the information they provide.
In January 2017, Takata agreed to pay $1 billion to resolve a criminal investigation by the U.S. Dept. of Justice. The company also paid $700 million in 2015 for failing to promptly report the defective inflators.
Some 50 million Takata inflators have been replaced to date in the U.S. alone. More than 120 million of the devices are expected to eventually be exchanged worldwide.
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