Takata airbags have triggered the recall of more than 14 million vehicles from 11 automakers worldwide since 2008. The defective airbags have been known to explode under great force and spray shrapnel at occupants, a problem that has been linked to at least four deaths and more than 100 injuries.
Recently, two former Takata employees, one who was a senior member of the testing lab, have come forward claiming that the company deliberately concealed crucial information about potentially defective airbags. According to a recent The New York Times report, Takata conducted secret tests on 50 of its airbags and told its workers to destroy the test results rather than inform federal authorities of the problem.
The two former employees told the newspaper that Takata carried out the secret tests on airbags in 2004 in Michigan after a crash of a Honda Accord left the driver injured.
Takata Corporation, a Japanese maker of airbags, is believed to have sold defective airbags to at least 11 different automakers dating to at least as far back as 2001. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), the inflating system in the defective Takata airbags can burst or explode when the airbag inflates. The metal canister may be broken into metal shrapnel by the force of inflation; those metal shards may then pierce the fabric of the airbag and cause serious injuries to anyone within the car.
Takata hasn’t detailed why this can happen. The main theory experts have formed is that the chemical propellant of the airbag inflator becomes contaminated with moisture over time, causing the inflator to deploy with more force than intended. The explosive deployments occur with greater frequency in hot and humid climates, like Florida.
The first reported airbag shrapnel deployment occurred in 2004. However, Takata did not issue an airbag recall until 2008.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a special order on Oct. 30 asking Takata for answers under oath to 36 questions about quality-control, factory conditions, and its attempt to investigate the defective airbag reports.
Takata must reply by Dec. 1 or pay fines of up to $35 million.
Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The airbag injury attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual airbag lawsuit or Takata airbag class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, airbag injury lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.
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