Upton Grills Takata Over Defective Airbags Linked to Five Deaths, Millions of Recalls

Press Release

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today grilled Japanese automotive parts manufacturer Takata Corp. concerning its defective airbags, which have been linked to five deaths and resulted in more than 16 million vehicle recalls worldwide. Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, Takata was joined by witnesses from Toyota, Honda, BMW, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA).

Upton expressed his outrage over the Takata's inept response and the across-the-board failures of industry and federal regulators to keep American drivers safe.

"What should I say to the mom in Michigan who asks me if she and her family are safe behind the wheel?" challenged Upton. "Families across the country expect the safety devices in their vehicles to work; they expect them to provide lifesaving protection they can count on in the event of an accident. They expect problems from earlier models to be reported and fixed, and they expect to be able to get a defect repaired when they find out about it. But sadly, I can't give those assurances right now."

Immediately before this morning's hearing, Reuters reported that in 2003 Takata conducted an investigation into an airbag failure in a BMW vehicle, but "concluded the problem was an anomaly." This revelation follows other recent reports that Takata was testing its product for potential defects in 2004 -- more than a year before the company initially claimed it learned of the airbag defects -- reportedly at a Takata laboratory in Armada, Mich., and at a test facility in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Upton also called into question the failure of Honda to comply with the Transportation Recall Enhancement Accountability and Documentation (TREAD) Act, which requires manufacturers to report the information needed to help NHTSA quickly identify vehicle defects and remove those affected vehicles from the road. Upton authored the bipartisan TREAD Act in 2000 after spearheading an extensive investigation into the fatal Ford-Firestone tire malfunctions. On November 24, 2014, Honda announced that it had failed to report over 1,700 incidents since 2003 that were required to be reported under the TREAD Act's Early Warning Reporting requirements.

This spring, Upton's committee launched an investigation into General Motors' and NHTSA's response to consumer complaints related to stalling, airbag non-deployment, and ignition switch problems linked to 31 crashes and 13 deaths, including two teenagers from Upton's own district.

"Cars are safer today, but not because a company hires lawyers and consultants to avoid reporting safety incidents," continued Upton today. "Companies need to know that there isn't anything safe about shorting safety. We need more automakers to make safety a priority and institute safety incentives. In the case of GM, they acknowledged their safety failure, their CEO volunteered to testify, and they hired a new safety officer to implement company-wide culture changes. I'd like to see that same level of urgency, that same admission of mistakes, and that same commitment to do better today."

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