NHTSA’s Takata Airbag Investigation Heats Up

In its attempt to force Takata to issue a recall of its defective airbags, which are prone to exploding and emitting metal shrapnel into the interior of the vehicle, posing serious danger to motorists and passengers, NHTSA has ordered Takata to not only preserve all 10,000 airbag inflators used during recent testing along with all corresponding data captured from the tests, but Takata also must make 10% of the recalled inflators available to plaintiffs suing the company. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx stated, “This department is focused on protecting the American public from these defective air bags and at getting to the bottom of how they came to be included in millions of vehicles on U.S. roads.” He went on to say, “This preservation order will help us get the answers we need to accomplish those goals.” Ten automakers have issued recalls for their cars possessing the defective inflators and 17 million vehicles with Takata airbags have been recalled since 2008.