Takata VS NHTSA......

Takata VS NHTSA:

The battle is over whether you should be killed in a minor traffic accident. NHTSA (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration) says you should be saved.

Takata (The maker of the faulty airbags currently in your car) says it is OK if you die. As long as it doesn’t cost them any money.

The problem is NHTSA does not have a lot of authority. That is all part of the “keep government weak and powerless” movement that corporations and Republicans love so much.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/…/takatas-air-bag-response-pu…/…

The root cause of the issue is not clear. When the explosives go off they are going off with so much force that the canister is disintegrating sending shrapnel into the drivers compartment. 6 people have died and 50 others have been injured.

The latest death was in Texas in January. A minor fender bender turned deadly when airbag shrapnel severed the mans artery in his neck. He bled out and died in the intersection. If there was no airbag he would still be alive.

Takata says the problem occurs in Hot and Humid states. The heat and humidy (over many years) changes the chemistry of the explosive making it more powerful. NHTSA disagrees and says this problem is not only happening in Hot and Humid states and all airbags should be replaced. Takata pooh poohed that idea.

NHTSA hasn’t been pleased with TAKATA’s response to this entire situation and is currently fining them $14,000 per day. (Peanuts)

There are 40,000,000 cars affected with these faulty airbags around the world. There are 17,000,000 in the United States alone. Of those only 2,000,000 have been replaced.

The problem is Takata can’t (or won’t) make the replacement parts fast enough and NHTSA may start requiring other manufactures to start making the parts to speed things along.

Meanwhile the car manufactures are caught in the middle. They have gone and hired their own company to research the root cause of the issue. This makes sense since the lawsuits will have their name on them.

http://www.mlive.com/…/02/group_of_10_automakers_enlist.html