Today’s reports say that Takata is preparing to recall another 35 million air bag inflators, adding to the current nationwide recall of nearly 30 million inflators.
Since 2014, through hearings and letters, Klobuchar has urged Takata to address the threat that defective air bags pose to public safety and to ensure all vehicles with defective components are removed from the road.
WASHINGTON, DC – After calls for action from U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Takata Corp. is preparing to further expand its national recall of defective air bags linked to a string of horrific injuries across the country, according to reports this morning. Despite evidence that defective Takata air bags pose a risk outside of high absolute humidity areas, Takata previously refused to comply with requests from federal transportation safety officials to expand its recall nationally. In May of 2015, Takata announced it would expand regional recalls of Takata passenger-side inflators to nationwide recalls and also expand the nationwide recall of driver-side inflators. Today’s reports say that Takata is preparing to recall another 35 million air bag inflators, adding to the current nationwide recall of nearly 30 million inflators.
“Defective Takata air bags have transformed a feature responsible for saving lives into one linked to numerous deaths and serious injuries in Minnesota and across the country,” Klobuchar said. “Expanding the recalls are a good step to help protect consumers. Takata also needs to enhance its efforts to locate, notify and fix every impacted car as soon as possible. I will keep the pressure on until there are no more vehicles on the road with these dangerous air bags.”
Shashi Chopra from North Oaks, Minnesota, was a passenger in a 2002 BMW that crashed, deploying a Takata air bag. The investigation surrounding the case remains open, but Chopra was left permanently blind. The crash occurred in March 2013, yet the family was not informed about the defect until September 2014 as part of an expanded recall from 2013. In November 2014, Chopra spoke publicly about the incident for the first time at an event with Klobuchar at which they both called for action to get dangerous Takata air bags off the road.
In a December 2014 letter to Takata’s senior vice president, Klobuchar urged Takata to address the threat that defective air bags pose to public safety and to ensure all vehicles with defective components are removed from the road.
During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in 2014, Klobuchar pressed a Takata executive, automakers, and a key federal transportation official about these dangerous air bags and urged them to do everything possible to protect consumers. During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in June 2015, Klobuchar highlighted the need for ongoing oversight of the Takata recall and pushed for greater authority for federal auto safety regulators to take decisive action.
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