Toyota recalls more cars for dangerous Takata air bags

TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp said on Thursday it would recall 57,000 vehicles globally to replace potentially deadly air bags made by Takata Corp, as a safety crisis around the Japanese auto parts maker looks far from being contained.

Toyota's action follows a recall by rival Honda Motor Co for the same problem two weeks ago after revelations of a fifth death, in Malaysia, linked to Takata's air bag inflator. More than 16 million vehicles have been recalled worldwide since 2008 over Takata's air bag inflators, which can explode with too much force and spray metal fragments into the car.

Toyota is recalling some Vitz subcompacts, called Yaris in some markets, and RAV4 crossover models made between December 2002 and March 2004. About 40,000 are in Japan, 6,000 in Europe and the rest in other markets outside North America. Toyota said it was not aware of any injury or death related to the recall.

Separately, Toyota's small-car subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co also issued a recall, in Japan, of 27,571 Mira minivehicles produced between December 2002 and May 2003 for the same reason - its first recall involving Takata inflators.

About 2.6 million vehicles have been recalled in Japan so far for Takata's air bag inflators, a transport ministry official said.

Takata-related recalls are almost certain to balloon after U.S. safety regulators on Wednesday ordered the company to expand a regional recall of driver-side air bags to cover the entire United States, not just hot and humid areas where the air bag inflators are thought to become more volatile.

Takata has so far resisted expanding the recall, saying that could divert replacement parts away from the high-humidity regions that need them most.

Tuesday deadline

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has given Takata until Tuesday to issue a nationwide recall, and could fine it up to $7,000 per vehicle if it doesn't comply. It remains unclear how many more vehicles that would add, but it could be in the millions, affecting five automakers: Ford Motor Co, Honda, Chrysler Group LLC, Mazda Motor Corp and BMW AG.

A U.S.-wide recall of driver-side air bags could cost an estimated 70 billion yen ($600 million), Nomura Credit Research analyst Shintaro Niimura wrote in a Nov. 26 report.

"Takata could need nearly 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion) of reserves in the event of a U.S. nationwide recall (including passenger-side air bags), and the company's cash-on-hand would be tightly squeezed," he wrote, noting Takata had just 8.33 billion yen of cash and deposits.

"If the company makes any missteps, we cannot say that there is 'zero' chance of the company dying a sudden death - that is, being hit with excessive debt or facing a cash-insolvency bankruptcy," Niimura added.

Shares hit

NHTSA's action and the latest recalls come on the heels of an announcement by Japan's transport ministry on Wednesday that it received a report of an "unusual deployment" of a Takata air bag as it was being removed from a scrapped car on Nov. 6. The inflator was manufactured in January 2003 at Takata's Monclova, Mexico factory, and had not been subject to recalls, at least in Japan, raising the prospect of an expanded recall, the ministry said.

A Toyota spokesman said the scrapped car was a 2003 Will Cypha, a Japan-only compact model that is no longer in production. Toyota said it was investigating the issue as part of its wider probe into Takata's air bag inflators. "We will take prompt and appropriate action if we find there is a need for a recall as a result of the investigation," it said.

Takata shares dropped as much as 7.9 percent in Tokyo on Thursday, closing down 4.8 percent. Toyota shares eased 0.5 percent and Daihatsu shares slipped 1.2 percent, roughly in line with the broader market. Shares of Honda, Takata's top customer, underperformed other auto stocks, falling 3.3 percent.

Honda had said the Takata air bag inflator that failed in the Malaysia crash had likely been exposed to excessive moisture at the supplier's now-shuttered plant in LaGrange, Georgia. A transport ministry official said no further recalls are expected in Japan related to the problem identified at the LaGrange line between November 2001 and November 2003.

A second U.S. congressional hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, where representatives from Takata, NHTSA and several automakers will testify.

source: interaksyon.com

Takata air bag recalls

Following are some key events leading to the recall of several million cars fitted with potentially defective air bags made by Japanese firm Takata Corp.

2008:

* Nov 4 – Honda Motor recalls 4,000 Accords and Civics (2001 models) globally as Takata air bag inflators may produce excessive internal pressure causing them to rupture and spray metal fragments in the car.

2009:

* May 27 – Oklahoma teen Ashley Parham dies when her 2001 Honda Accord air bag explodes, shooting metal fragments into her neck. Honda and Takata deny fault, settle for undisclosed sum.

* July 29 - Honda recalls 510,000 Civics, Accords and Acura 3.2 TL cars (2001-02 models) globally.

* Dec 24 – Gurjit Rathore is killed in Virginia when the air bag in a 2001 Honda Accord explodes, severing arteries in her neck, court documents show. Her family sues Honda and Takata for more than $75 million in April 2011, claiming they knew of the air bag problems as early as 2004. Honda and Takata settle in January 2013 for $3 million, according to court documents.

2010:

* Feb 9 – Honda recalls 437,000 Acura cars and other vehicles (2001-03 models) globally, expanding earlier recalls.

2011:

* April 27 – Honda recalls 896,000 Honda and Acura 2001-03 cars in order to find defective Takata air bag inflators installed as replacement parts.

* Dec 1 - Honda again expands recalls. Globally, it says 304,000 are recalled as a bad inflator may have been installed at the factory, and 613,000 are recalled to find defective inflators installed as replacement parts.

2013:

* April 11 - Toyota Motor, Honda, Nissan Motor and Mazda Motor recall 3.4 million vehicles globally due to possibly defective Takata air bags.

* May 7 – BMW recalls 220,000 vehicles globally, raising the overall recall for the latest Takata-related issue to over 3.6 million.

* May 10 – Takata posts record $212.5 million annual net loss; books $307 million charge for recall costs; names Swiss national Stefan Stocker as president.

* Sept 3 – Devin Xu dies in a 2002 Acura TL sedan near Los Angeles from "apparent facial trauma due to foreign object inside air bag," according to coroner's report.

2014:

* June 11 – Toyota expands recall to 2.27 million vehicles globally; adding 650,000 previously not recalled in Japan, and 1.62 million overseas for a second time.

* U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opens probe that goes beyond previously identified glitches. NHTSA is examining whether driving in high humidity regions contributes to the risk of Takata air bag explosions. Takata says inflators in the recall were supplied to Honda, Toyota, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, Mazda and Nissan.

* June 23 — Honda, Nissan and Mazda recall 2.95 million vehicles, expanding April 2013 recall, bringing the total recall to about 10.5 million vehicles over five years. Later, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, BMW, Chrysler and Ford say they are recalling more vehicles in some U.S. high humidity regions.

* June 26 – Takata CEO apologizes to shareholders at AGM.

* June 30 – Takata says some potentially defective inflators also shipped to Subaru and Mitsubishi Motors.

* July 16 – BMW recalls about 1.6 million cars worldwide to replace Takata air bags, going beyond the regional U.S. recall.

* July 18 - Takata says to book special loss of about 45 billion yen ($440 million) in April-June for recalls.

* Oct 2 – Orlando woman Hien Thi Tran dies four days after her 2001 Honda Accord air bag explodes, shooting out shrapnel, according to police report.

* Oct 17 - Reuters, based on a review of internal Takata documents, reports Takata struggled to meet its own standards for safety in manufacturing air bag inflators at its plant in Monclova, Mexico.

* Oct 20 – Toyota recalls 247,000 vehicles in the U.S. for Takata air bag problems.

* Oct 21 - Takata shares drop 23 percent in Tokyo.

* Oct 22 - NHTSA expands the total number of U.S. vehicles recalled involving Takata air bags to 7.8 million over the past 18 months.

* Oct 27 – A first case seeking class-action status is filed in Florida, claiming Takata and automakers, including Honda and Toyota, concealed crucial information on defective air bags.

* Oct 30 - NHTSA orders Takata to provide documents and answer questions under oath in air bag probe. On Nov 5, NHTSA orders Honda to do the same.

* Nov 6 - Takata warns of a bigger full-year loss, and pays no interim dividend for first time since 2006.

* Nov 7 - New York Times reports Takata ordered technicians to destroy results of tests on some air bags after finding cracks in inflators. Takata later refutes this.

* Democratic lawmakers call for criminal probe into Takata.

* Nov 10 - Takata shares drop 17 percent to 5-1/2 year low.

* Nov 12 - Takata tells Reuters it has modified the composition of an air bag propellant, giving no details.

* Nov 13 - Honda discloses fifth fatality, and first outside the U.S. Law Suk Leh, nine months pregnant, died in Malaysia on July 27 after being hit by a piece of metal from a Takata air bag in her Honda City compact car.

* Honda recalls another 170,000 cars in Asia and Europe, taking its total Takata-related recalls to nearly 10 million.

* Takata says its U.S. unit subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to produce air bag-related documents.

* Nov 18 - NHTSA tells Takata, Honda, Ford, Mazda, BMW and Chrysler to expand nationwide a U.S. regional recall.

source: interaksyon.com