A U.S. Senate committee is setting up a hearing with Takata to discuss the issue of the faulty air bags.
Last month, several automakers including Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW, Buick, and Chevrolet, announced a recall of different vehicles sold from southern Florida and the Gulf Coast, where humidity is high. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has started investigating Takata, a Japanese supplier of air-bag inflators used by Honda, Toyota, and Nissan. The report said that metal shrapnel are being released when the air bags deploy which has been associated to at least five deaths.
Early this month, the Japanese car parts supplier wrote to the federal investigators that its internal investigation has identified that the defective airbags were made from 2008 to 2014. Officials said that it is working on the replacements that might be available by next year.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has subpoenaed Takata to submit documents related to the air bag defects. A similar request was previously made by the NHTSA with a deadline of Dec. 1, according to Reuters.
Takata is still working on improving the quality of its inflators. A source close to the Japanese company, whose name wished to be kept confidential, told Reuters that they have changed the chemical used in the air bag propellant to improve the quality.
There is also another report published by the New York Times claiming that Takata was aware of the air bag defect since the second quarter of 2004, but did not report it to the federal regulators. The information came from two former Takata employees in Michigan. Takata denied the allegations and cited contradictions on the statements of the sources.
The Senate noticed the slow movement of the recall and replacement process so it decided to step in and invite the officials for inquiries. The hearing is set for Thursday and will be attended by the full Senate, indicating that the problem has become bigger than GM's ignition switch issue which was attended by a subcommittee only, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Takata has not confirmed yet if they will be attending the senate hearing.
