Standing Up for Safety: Subcommittee Examines Takata Airbag Ruptures and Recalls

WASHINGTON, DC – Keeping drivers safe on the road was a bipartisan focus of the Energy and Commerce Committee today as the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, chaired by Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE), held a hearing to examine the Takata airbag ruptures and recalls. Members questioned witnesses – including representatives from Takata, Honda, Toyota, BMW, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – about the widely reported and dangerous safety defect and the series of vehicle recalls over the last six years. To date, over 8 million vehicles across the United States have been recalled due to defective Takata airbag inflators, which have contributed to at least five fatalities.

“Our highway safety depends on the vigilance of manufacturers as well as NHTSA. Sometimes the regulator is in the best position to find the defect and sometimes it’s the manufacturer,” said Terry. “The time has come to bring the facts together and make sure the unsafe airbag inflators are off the market, consumers can get their faulty parts replaced, and future recalls are handled better. The safety of America’s drivers depends on our collective success on those fronts.”

Chairman Terry and other members of the subcommittee questioned both Takata and NHTSA over the testing that is currently being done on the airbag inflators to determine the extent of the recalls. Changing its previous position supporting regional recalls, NHTSA recently called for Takata to expand its regional driver’s side airbag recalls nationwide. Takata yesterday formally denied this request, and Takata’s Senior Vice President for Global Quality Assurance Hiroshi Shimizu testified, “Based on the data currently available and our best engineering judgment, Takata continues to believe that the public safety is best served if the identified areas of high absolute humidity remain the priority for the replacement of suspect inflators.” Despite Takata’s stance, Executive Vice President for Honda North America Rick Schostek today announced in his testimony that the company would move forward with a national recall, but acknowledged this action may lead to a replacement parts shortage.

Members highlighted the double-edged sword of recalls and replacements, pointing out that while some consumers won’t be able to get replacements because of shortages, those that do still cannot be confident that the replacements airbags are safe. Full Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) said, “Drivers are being told their vehicle is subject to a recall but there are not enough parts to fix it, and if they do get a replacement, that airbag may be subject to the same safety failure in the future because we still don't know if the root problem has been addressed.” Upton asked Takata’s Shimizu whether or not he knew if the defect is a design flaw or manufacturing related, but he only acknowledged that the issue is “most likely manufacturing related.” NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman later testified that the root problem has still not been discovered.

Upton also questioned Honda and NHTSA over the company’s recent admission it had underreported Early Warning Reports, violating the TREAD Act. Honda announced last week it had failed to report over 1,700 incidents since 2003, including 8 reports related to the Takata issue. Upton authored the TREAD Act over a decade ago to help manufacturers and NHTSA identify and address safety defects.

“The TREAD Act is simple – it requires manufacturers to report the information needed to help NHTSA quickly identify vehicle defects and remove flawed cars from the road immediately. Our goal was to prevent injuries and save lives, but we need industry and NHTSA to do their part. Cars are safer today, but not because a company hires lawyers and consultants to avoid reporting safety incidents … Companies need to know that there isn't anything safe about shorting safety.”

Watch Upton’s questioning with Takata and Honda HERE: 

Upton later pressed Friedman on NHTSA’s actions to ensure other manufacturers are not following a similar pattern as Honda and underreporting. Friedman testified that NHTSA has requested an audit from each manufacturer of their TREAD reporting. “The way we use all of the early warning information is to spot trends and to spot cases where there are potential defects. Anytime an automaker fails to provide that information to us, it leaves us more hamstrung in our ability to find these problems quicker, and to get these problems fixed sooner,” said Friedman.

Chairman Terry concluded, “This subcommittee and the full committee have concerns about the role NHTSA plays in these continuing large scale recalls, and I hope that NHTSA will fully cooperate with the GAO as GAO carries out the bipartisan request to look at NHTSA’s internal procedures and processes.” To learn more about the committee’s request to GAO, click HERE.

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