The Japanese car parts maker Takata has agreed to pay US$1bn in penalties in the US for concealing dangerous defects in its exploding airbags. The firm, which also has assembly plants in Brazil and Uruguay, also pleaded guilty to a single criminal charge, the company and the US Department of Justice said..
Takata will pay a US$25m fine, US$125m to people injured by the airbags and US$850m to carmakers that used them. The faulty airbags have been linked to at least a dozen deaths and more than 100 injuries worldwide. Most major carmakers have been affected by the fault, with about 100 million Takata airbags recalled globally.
The company’s chief executive, Shigehisa Takada, said: Takata deeply regrets the circumstances that have led to this situation and remains fully committed to being part of the solution.
Takata has previously acknowledged some of its airbag inflators expanded with too much force and sprayed metal shrapnel into cars.
For more than a decade, Takata repeatedly and systematically falsified critical test data related to the safety of its products, putting profits and production schedules ahead of safety, said Andrew Weissmann, head of the Justice Department’s fraud section.
