After bearing the burnt of the Takata airbag defect, including the recall of millions of vehicles and having its models be responsible for all eight deaths linked to the safety devices, Honda says it will no longer use the company’s front-seat airbags.
Honda announced Wednesday that it would discontinue using the company’s airbag inflators in any new models under development and accused the supplier of manipulating test data, Reuters reports.
The carmaker said in a statement that it was “deeply troubled” by evidence that suggested Takata “misrepresented and manipulated test data for certain airbag inflators.”
The decision to drop Takata as a supplier comes just a day after the parts maker was fined $70 million by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for its failure to properly alert regulators to airbag issues.
The company has agreed to phase out the use of ammonium nitrate in its inflators by 2018 and faces an additional $130 million fine if it doesn’t comply with NHTSA orders or if new violations are found.
Honda, which was Takata’s largest customer, made up about 10% of the part maker’s global sales.
Officials with Honda declined to provide comment on whether the company would seek legal action against Takata or if the relationship could change in the future.
“Once we determine an official cause of the defect, we plan to discuss issues of responsibility (with Takata),” Honda Executive Vice President Tetsuo Iwamura tells Reuters.
While it’s unclear if other automakers will follow Honda’s lead and ditch Takata, both Toyota and Nissan have reportedly begun testing inflators from other companies.
Dumped by Honda, air bag maker faces fresh questions over future [Reuters]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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