Takata charged for manufacturing faulty airbags
It's one thing to worry about getting into an auto accident on the road. It's another entirely to have to worry about whether or not your airbag will work properly. The functionality of car safety equipment is something that should never be in question. Yet for drivers of vehicles that are outfitted with airbags from the Japanese auto supplier Takata, their preparedness for an accident is very much in question.
Today Takata pleaded guilty in a US court to the crime of hiding airbag defects, while three of its former employees have been charged individually as well. The company will pay out $1 billion US in fines and restitution, with the mast majority of it going to automakers that purchased the defective products. After that, $125 million will go to people that were injured as a result of the airbags—they have been linked to 16 deaths, 11 of which happened on US soil—and $25 million will cover criminal fees.
The issue with the Takata airbags stems from their inflators. Unlike most other companies that manufacture the product, Takata uses the compound ammonium nitrate to produce the reaction that fills the airbag. Even though it works in most cases, it can deteriorate over time and burn too fast when finally needed in an emergency. Takata airbags are known to explode with too much force and spew out dangerous pieces of metal shrapnel.
Those three aforementioned workers are being singled out for their role in allowing the airbags to continue being manufactured in spite of the known defects. It is being reported that at least as far back as 2000, the three of them had been altering test data and reports that verified the issues the airbags were having.
Takata has been on the market for several months now, and is expected to be bought and merge with another company at some point in the near future. It is obligated to make all of its payments within five days of that point.