Takata airbags

A senior Takata executive yesterday defended the Japanese company’s rejection of a nationwide US recall of its potentially deadly airbags, insisting that testing data did not back such an action.

But the top US auto safety official warned that Takata had not yet solved the reason for shrapnel-firing airbag eruptions thought to have killed five people, and said the company and car makers could face court action for their reticence to widen recalls.

Hiroshi Shimizu, senior vice president for quality control at the auto parts maker, told a Congressional hearing that Takata did not agree with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s demand for a recall of all cars in the US with the suspect Takata airbags on the driver’s side.

Meanwhile, Autoliv will supply replacement airbag inflators to be used by Honda in the United States, Autoliv said yesterday.

“The agreement is made in order to meet the expanded supply of inflators needed by Honda and is subject to definitive documentation,” Autoliv said in a statement.

Since 2008, Honda and nine other manufacturers have recalled more than 10 million cars in the United States and more than 16m worldwide for ruptured Takata inflators that have been connected to five deaths in Honda cars.

Takata is under pressure from US lawmakers and safety regulators to expand to all 50 states a recall of driver-side airbags, but the company has said data does not support such a move and it could divert replacement parts from the most-needed areas.

Earlier, a Honda executive told a hearing in a US House committee the company was in talks with Autoliv and Daicel about expanding production of replacement inflators needed in a national recall.

In order to meet increased demand, Autoliv will build additional inflator capacity in its existing manufacturing facilities, it said.

Deliveries were estimated to start after about six months.