feReport: Takata Hit With $70M Fine For Failing To Report Deadly Exploding Airbag Defect

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After more than a year of back and forth between regulators and Japanese parts manufacturer Takata over the slow response and notification related to shrapnel-shooting airbags, the two entities have reportedly reached a settlement in which the parts company will pay a $70 million fine for its failing related to the deadly defect. 

The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is poised to impose a $70 million fine against the parts maker for its lapse in dealing with the defective airbags linked to eight deaths and hundreds of injuries.

The fine is said to be part of a settlement between NHTSA and Takata related to the Japanese companies failure to notify regulators of the defect in a timely manner.

Additionally, the settlement will reportedly assign an independent monitor to audit the company’s safety practices for several years.

The company will face an additional $130 million penalty if it violates the settlements terms or other federal laws, the WSJ reports.

News of the settlement comes just two weeks after NHTSA held a special meeting on how to best handle the safety defect.

Recalls of vehicles with Takata-produced airbags began slowly in 2008, but gained traction over the last year, culminating in the recall of 33.8 million vehicles in May.

The company and a plethora of investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as well as the 10 automakers affected by the recall have yet to identify what causes Takata’s airbags to rupture so violently. Because of this, it’s unclear whether or not vehicles already repaired are actually safe.

In fact, company also plans to re-recall about 400,000 vehicles that have already been repaired.

Takata announced it would change its use of the often volatile chemical ammonium nitrate in its safety devices and replace its batwing driver inflators.

Federal Regulators Set to Hit Takata With $70 Million Fine [The Wall Street Journal]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist