Washington DC - Honda has said it was ditching airbag inflators made by Takata, after the top US auto safety regulator on Tuesday fined the supplier $70 million (R963 million) and ordered it to stop using a potentially dangerous chemical.
Regulators have linked eight deaths - all in cars made by Takata's biggest airbag customer Honda - to the inflators, which use ammonium nitrate and can explode with too much force, spraying metal fragments inside vehicles.
In a harshly worded statement, Honda said it would no longer use Takata's inflators in front-seat air bags, adding that it was “deeply troubled” by evidence suggesting Takata “misrepresented and manipulated test data for certain air bag inflators”.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, had accused Takata of providing “selective, incomplete or inaccurate data” from 2009 to the present about its airbags.
Speaking to the media in Tokyo, chief executive Shigehisa Takada said Takata had decided to phase out ammonium nitrate by the end of 2018 after the US order and in view of consumers' concerns.
ALTERNATIVES
Toyota is testing airbag inflators made by Autoliv and Nippon Kayaku as possible alternatives to the Takata product.
The NHTSA cited ammonium nitrate as a factor in the fatal air-bag ruptures, and ordered carmakers to accelerate repairs on “high-risk” inflators, including those in humid areas.
US regulators said millions of cars equipped with potentially defective Takata air bags may not be repaired until the end of 2019 because not enough replacement parts are available.
NHTSA said another $130 million (R1.8 billion) would be due if Takata didn’t comply or if the agency uncovered additional violations of safety regulations.
The potential total fine of $200 million (R2.75 billion) is more than the $130 million (R1.8 billion) that the NHTSA levied earlier this year on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles .
Reuters