Takata, regulators questioned on massive air bag recall

WASHINGTON – A hearing into a record-setting recall of defective air bags saw members of Congress complain today that it has taken too long to launch the campaign and raise questions as to how quickly air bag inflators can be replaced and whether the replacements themselves are safe.

"Six months ago I asked the question: What should I say to the mom in Michigan who asks me if she and her family are safe behind the wheel?" asked U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "Six months later ... I have to ask the same question."

Today's hearing before the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee — which is part of the Energy and Commerce Committee — comes less than two weeks after federal regulators and the air bag maker, Takata, announced it was doubling its recall to cover some 34 million vehicles nationwide.

Six deaths and more than 100 injuries have already been linked to defective air bag inflators which ruptured, spraying shrapnel at drivers and passengers. While regulators with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Takata have been in talks for months, if not years, it was only last month when the air bag manufacturer publicly acknowledged the defect.

But at today's hearing, Kevin Kennedy, an executive vice president with Takata, acknowledged that the root cause of the defect is still unknown and that the company, at least for a time, plans to continue using a chemical propellant even it considers one of the factors in the air bags' failure.c

"It's almost like there should be a warning label on these vehicles saying this ... is not safe," said U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, who chairs the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee which held today's hearing and was surprised to learn Takata still planned to use ammonium nitrate in some of its air bag inflators, at least for now.

In December, the subcommittee held its last hearing on the Takata air bag recall, which then was limited to certain humid regions of the country and covered about half as many vehicles.

But even with the new, wider recall announced in mid-May, affecting models of 11 auto manufacturers, Burgess said it wasn't "clear ... why we are launching this national recall now instead of almost a year ago when we had almost the same information."

Since the last hearing, said Burgess, another death, one in his home state, occurred.

"Every morning I fear I am playing headline roulette waiting for another rupture," he said. "While it has now been confirmed that there is a defect affecting ... Takata air bag inflators, we still don't have any great clarity about what was the root cause and how we know that we are safe going forward."

NHTSA head Mark Rosekind, Kennedy and officials of industry groups testified at today's hearing, with the air bag manufacturer expressing "regret" for the deaths and injuries and saying the company was moving on nationwide recalls of certain inflators even though the rate of ruptures was tiny.

"It is unacceptable to us and incompatible with our safety mission for even one of

our products to fail to perform as intended and to put people at risk," said Kennedy, who said all driver side inflators and one of the passenger side inflators using so-called "batwing"-shaped propellant wafers are being recalled nationwide.

But Kennedy faced sharp questioning about the use of ammonium nitrate, which the company is apparently transitioning away from but still using for now. Acknowledging that it was one of several factors involved, Kennedy said the company still plans to use the material in some of its inflators, including in some new cars -- though the "batwing"-shaped propellant wafers, which were also implicated have been eliminated.

Kennedy said using ammonium nitrate with a moisture-reducing agent greatly reduces the risk of rupture. But he said the company wasn't using that agent in all of its ammonium nitrate inflators as of yet.

Age, high-heat conditions and high-humidity have been blamed as likely reasons for the ruptures, Rosekind and Kennedy said, though no ultimate root cause has been determined. About half of the replacement air bag kits are expected to not contain ammonium nitrate at all, Kennedy added.

When Burgess asked about the use of ammonium nitrate and its safety, Kennedy said part of the problem of determining a root cause of the ruptures is that, "You can put two inflators in that situation (and) one is fine and one is not."

"You're not providing me much reassurance with that answer," Burgess responded.

Kennedy said about 750,000 replacement inflators were shipped in May. He expects that number to increase to about 1 million a month soon. By the end of the year he said he expects 70% of those replacements to be made by Takata's competitors and not use any ammonium nitrate. He acknowledged that more testing of inflators -- including those shipped as replacement parts -- will continue to make sure they are safe.

Several Democrats on the panel, meanwhile, used the hearing as a call to pass new legislation giving regulators more authority to order recalls and forcing automakers and suppliers to share more information with the public.

Questioned about the need for such legislation and more funding for personnel by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Rosekind acknowledged that any legislation which increases the maximum fine from the current $35 million cap to $300 million or more would be welcomed, as would more agency staff.

"At some point you need people and authority to get the job done and that's a concern," Roskeind said. Republicans in the House, however, have so far balked at giving the Obama administration what it has asked for, including a budget request to nearly triple NHTSA's defect investigations office.

Burgess suggested he would consider taking a request for more funding to House appropriators if Rosekind would provide him a detailed spending plan.

While the recall is the largest safety campaign ever ordered in U.S. history, Upton — who said he had his own close call in an accident two weeks ago when he hit two deer and his air bags deployed — said that eye-opening number isn't enough to ensure public safety, since it is not known when the replacement parts will be ready and whether they will absolutely be effective.

Even NHTSA has acknowledged that already replaced parts may have to be replaced again as it researches their safety.

Upton said he was concerned that NHTSA and Takata "decided to release head turning, headline-grabbing recall numbers at a time when the information is not yet actionable for consumers" since it's not even fully known which vehicles must be recalled.

"Drivers read about the biggest recall in history but could not look up if their car was part of the recall. How does that help safety?" asked Upton.

Rosekind said drivers, however, should be able to check vehicle identification numbers at safercar.gov and should check it regularly — every week — to see whether their vehicles are part of this recall effort. It could take two weeks or more to have all the VINs included in the safercar.gov site, he added.

Rosekind, in his testimony, made it clear that NHTSA will continue its research to make sure that replacement parts are safe and said drivers should repeatedly check to see if their cars are part of a recall — even if they have been recalled previously.

As to when the recall would be complete, Rosekind -- who has previously said it could take years -- said there is no way to know but he hopes to be able to provide more information on a timetable after a public meeting with automakers and suppliers by fall.

"If anybody gave you a number (as to how long it will take)," he told Upton, "they don't know what they're talking about."

Contact Todd Spangler: 703-854-8947 or at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.