Takata Exec Apologizes for Faulty Airbags Claiming at Least Eight Lives

In a long overdue public address, Takata Corp.’s chief executive Shigehisa Takada apologized for his company’s defective airbags that have claimed at least eight lives and injured 130 others. “I feel a heavy responsibility,” Takada said of the faulty airbags installed in about 35 million vehicles that are prone exploding, yet maintained that Takata products were generally safe. In his address at the company’s June 2015 shareholder meeting, Takada acknowledged that efforts to investigate the airbag issues were slow, citing manufacturing problems as one of the main culprits for the defects, yet the company is still trying to pinpoint the exact cause.