DOT, NHTSA Announce $14,000 Per Day Fine Against Takata Amid Airbag Investigation - East Idaho News
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DOT, NHTSA Announce $14,000 Per Day Fine Against Takata Amid Airbag Investigation

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Getty 022015 AirBag?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1424467335220iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Mark Rosekind announced a $14,000 per day fine against Takata Corporation for the company’s failure to cooperate with an investigation into defective airbags it manufactured.

“Safety is a shared responsibility,” Foxx said, “and Takata’s failure to fully cooperate with our investigation is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

In addition to the $14,000 fine for each day Takata doesn’t cooperate fully, Foxx called on Congress to pass the Grow America act, which would require rental car agencies to remedy any safety defects in vehicles under recall before renting that vehicle.

In 2014, NHTSA issued a pair of special orders to Takata requiring the company to provide documents and other information regarding the investigation into those faulty airbags. The U.S. Department of Transportation and NHTSA say the company has failed to cooperate with those orders.

“Every vehicle under an open safety recall should be repaired as soon as possible,” Foxx said.

Takata said it was “surprised and disappointed” by the fine and disagrees with the characterization of the company as being uncooperative.

“In response to NHTSA’s special orders, we have provided the agency with almost 2.5 million pages of documents to date,” Takata’s statement read. The company adds that it has been in “constant communication” with NHTSA about the production of pertinent documents.

The auto parts manufacturer added that it has been working with automakers to aid in the recall and with NHTSA engineers to identify the cause of the issue.

“We remain fully committed to cooperating with NHTSA in the interests of advancing auto safety for the driving public,” Takata said.


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