Hearing of the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee - An Update of the Takata Recalls and Ruptures

Hearing

Thank you Mr. Chairman. Though it has taken months, I am glad that Takata finally
admitted that its airbags are defective and finally moved forward with national recalls. Getting
dangerous cars off the road is crucial. Airbags are supposed to save lives, not take lives.
But these national recalls came after a full year in which we have seen a rather sloppy
roll-out of recalls of these exploding airbags. Each automaker seems to have handled the recalls
differently.

Some automakers conducted regional "safety improvement campaigns" in high absolute
humidity areas. At the same time, others conducted "regional recalls" in the same areas. Some
automakers expanded their recalls to more states. Some eventually conducted national recalls of
certain cars. One automaker advised against passengers using front seats until the airbags are
fixed, even offering to disable passenger airbags as a precaution.

All of this has led to considerable confusion for the public. Drivers are unsure if their
cars are part of the recall. Those who have already had their airbag replaced do not know if they
need to have them replaced again.

But most importantly, people do not know if their cars are safe to drive.

This is the second hearing this Subcommittee has held on the Takata airbag recalls. Our
first hearing was six months ago. And yet, in that time, we are still left with many of the same
questions.

We may still not know the root cause of the Takata airbag defects, we certainly know
enough to take action. And while I appreciate and share the majority's concerns about this
Takata crisis, I am disappointed by its lack of action.

Auto safety is not a partisan issue. However, even after the GM ignition switch issues;
the Takata airbag ruptures; and even going back to the Toyota sudden acceleration problems, this
Committee has failed to take appropriate legislative action.

Earlier this year, Subcommittee Ranking Member Schakowsky and I, with a number of
other members of this Subcommittee, introduced the Vehicle Safety Improvement Act of
2015. Many provisions in our bill would address problems that occurred in the Takata airbag
and the GM ignition switch recalls.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has received
much of the blame in both the GM recall and this Takata recall. But it is clear that NHTSA
simply does not have the resources and authorities it needs to protect drivers and passengers and
to hold automakers and automobile parts suppliers accountable for safety defects. Our bill
provides more resources and tools to NHTSA, increasing fines for manufacturers that violate
vehicle safety laws.

Also in both cases, automakers and parts suppliers failed to timely produce critical
information that may have helped NHTSA identify problems earlier. Our bill improves the Early
Warning Reporting System by making more reported information public and requiring
manufacturers provide significantly more information about any fatal incident involving a safety
defect.

Chairman Burgess, I appreciate your interest in continuing oversight of these recalls. But
we don't need any more investigation to begin our legislative work.

I hope that we can work together to move forward with our bill to keep our citizens safe
on the roads.

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