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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

NHTSA demands nationwide recall of Takata air bags

Tom Krisher Associated Press

DETROIT – U.S. safety regulators threatened fines and legal action against Takata Corp. Wednesday unless the company admits that its driver’s air bag inflators are defective and agrees to a nationwide recall.

In a letter to Takata’s Washington office, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the Japanese company until Tuesday to file paperwork declaring a defect and expanding the recall from high-humidity states to the full nation.

The company’s air bags have been blamed for at least five deaths and multiple injuries worldwide. They can inflate with too much force, blowing apart a metal canister and spewing shrapnel.

The letter is the first step in a legal process to compel a nationwide recall. To do so, the agency must determine that there’s a safety defect and hold a public hearing. Then it can go to court. It can also fine the company up to $7,000 per vehicle with defective inflators, and NHTSA said there are millions on the road today.

“Be assured that we will use all of our authority and resources,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

Takata has maintained that the air bag problems are caused by prolonged exposure to airborne moisture, and there’s no need for a national recall. Moisture can make the chemical propellant in the air bags burn too fast. Boundaries of the recall zone vary by manufacturer, but generally it covers Gulf Coast states, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and some U.S. territories.

A company spokesman was working on a response Wednesday.

In the letter, NHTSA said Takata hasn’t filed safety defect papers as demanded by the agency Nov. 18. The company, the letter said, has not explained why two driver’s side air bag inflators ruptured outside the high-humidity areas.

“Despite the severe consequences of air bag ruptures and mounting data demonstrating a safety defect, Takata responded that it did not agree with NHTSA’s basis for a nationwide recall,” the letter stated.

The agency cites inflator ruptures that injured drivers in California and North Carolina as justification for the national recall.