U.S. Government Orders Takata To Preserve Airbag Evidence In Ongoing Investigation

Takata, the Japan-based airbag manufacturer, has been under a great deal of scrutiny since the middle of last year, due to accusations of faulty products that have been linked to at least five deaths and hundreds of injuries in the United States. These ongoing headlines have been a public relations nightmare for the company, and the situation is far from resolved.

As part of the ongoing investigation, a U.S. safety regular has now ordered Takata Corp. to preserve all airbag inflators that have been removed through a recall process, to be used as evidence in a federal investigation and private litigation cases.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claims that the defective parts, which activate airbags when there is a collision, explode with too much force and can spray metal fragments at occupants of the vehicle. Takata Corp. is prohibited from destroying or damaging recovered inflators, except for the purposes of testing, and the company is required to set aside 10 percent of the recalled devices for use by plaintiffs in lawsuits.

The NHTSA has now upgraded its investigation to an engineering analysis, which is a format step that indicates that the agency believes there is a safety defect in Takata’s product. Gordon Trowbridge, a spokesman for the NHTSA, stated that this is the first time that the agency has ordered a company to preserve evidence for private litigation.

“This department is focused on protecting the American public from these defective airbags and at getting to the bottom of how they came to be included in millions of vehicles,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

Takata said it worked with regulators “to reach a constructive solution” on the preservation order, and stated that it will fully cooperate with the NHTSA’s continuing investigation. “The outcome is in the best interest of all parties, and consistent with our commitment to the safety of the driving public,” the company said in a statement. “Determining the root cause of the inflator issues has been, and remains our top priority.”

However, last week, the NHTSA began fining Takata $14,000 per day for failing to completely answer questions about its airbag inflator production and its efforts to investigate the explosions. The agency said that Takata hasn’t provided the necessary details to determine how the 2.4 million pages of documents that have been produced relate to the specific inquiries from the agency.

Ten automakers have recalled approximately 17 million vehicles with Takata airbags since 2008, including Honda and Toyota. Last year, five automakers upgraded recalls for drivers’ side airbags at the urging of the NHTSA.

Under the order issued by the agency, Takata is required to get approval for how it gathers, stores and preserves inflators that are removed during the recalls. Additionally, the agency has requested a written plan for how the company will grant access to automakers and plaintiff’s lawyers who seek access to inflators for testing. The NHTSA will get access to all testing data from Takata, and also from separate investigations that are being conducted by automakers and trial lawyers. The agency is also reserving the right to collect the inflators for its own analysis, if deemed necessary.

Will Takata move to fully comply with the agency’s order, or will the $14,000 per day fine continue?