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Takata to address NHTSA safety concern on airbag inflators

27 May '15
3 min read

TK Holdings Inc. (TKH), a subsidiary of Takata Corporation has agreed to take action to address safety concerns involved in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) investigation of Takata airbag inflators.

“This action directly and preemptively addresses the issues raised by ruptures that have occurred in certain Takata airbag inflators,” Takata said in a press release.

CEO at Takata Corporation, Shigehisa Takada said, “We are pleased to have reached this agreement with NHTSA, which presents a clear path forward to advancing safety and restoring trust.”

“We have worked extensively with NHTSA and our automaker customers to collect and analyse a multitude of testing data in an effort to advance driver safety,” he added.

“We are committed to continuing to work closely with NHTSA and our automaker customers to do everything we can to advance the safety of drivers.”

In accordance with the Consent Order, TKH has filed with NHTSA four Defect Information Reports that contemplate expanded recalls by vehicle manufacturers.

The same will be overseen by NHTSA, covering several types of driver-side and passenger-side inflators manufactured by Takata.

The Reports describe Takata’s current understanding of the long-term potential for the performance of some inflators to be affected by exposure over several years.

“These can happen from persistent conditions of high absolute humidity, potentially in combination with other factors, including the possibility of manufacturing issues,” Takata informed.

Under certain circumstances over time, these factors can result in the over-aggressive deployment of some inflators, which may produce a rupture of the inflator housing.

“Although Takata has devoted resources to these efforts with some of the leading researchers in this field, it is clear that this is a complex issue which takes time to fully evaluate,” it noted.

According to Takata, the analysis to date suggests that the potential for this long-term phenomenon to occur was not within the scope of the testing specifications prescribed by the vehicle manufacturers for the validation and production of the subject inflators as original equipment.

The Reports establish a process to prioritise the replacement of inflators based upon age and location in accordance with testing results to date.

Two of the Reports contemplate nationwide recalls that would proceed in phases to replace inflators in several makes and models of vehicles, starting first with older vehicles.

The other two Reports contemplate recalls of vehicles sold or ever registered in states with high absolute humidity, but with the potential for the recalls to expand later to other states.

The expanded recalls encompass all of the older generation of phase-stabilised ammonium nitrate driver inflators manufactured by Takata, from the start of production to the end of production. (AR)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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