United States prosecutors said on Friday that they had charged three executives at Takata, the Japanese auto parts maker, with fabricating test data to mask a fatal airbag defect, a striking turn in a case that set off the largest automotive recall in United States history.

Prosecutors also announced that Takata had agreed to plead guilty to charges of wire fraud for providing the false data, a rare outcome for businesses accused of wrongdoing. The company, based in Tokyo, was also fined $1 billion.

The guilty plea and fine had been widely expected, but the charges against the executives intensified a scandal that has roiled regulators, led to congressional hearings and brought the Japanese manufacturer to the brink of bankruptcy. The airbags, which can rupture violently when they deploy, have been linked to at least 11 deaths and more than 180 injuries in the United States.

“They falsified and manipulated data because they wanted to make profits on their airbags, knowing they were creating risk for the end-users, who are soccer moms like me,” Barbara L. McQuade, a United States attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said at a news conference in Detroit.