Lawyers are alleging that five automakers knew Takata’s airbags were dangerous, but the companies continued to use the products because they were inexpensive.
The allegations involve Ford, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and BMW.
Court documents were filed Feb. 27 in United States federal court in Miami, according to The Associated Press. The filing, the AP reported, says the allegations are partly based on auto company documents.
The lawyer for the plaintiffs allege that the five brands are “far from innocent” and independently knew the airbag inflators were dangerous when installing them in vehicles.
“The automotive defendants were aware that rupture after rupture, both during testing and in the field, confirmed how dangerous and defective Takata’s air bags were,” said the ‘status report’ filed by the lawyers.
The allegations were made the same day that Takata’s $1 billion guilty plea was accepted by a federal court in Detroit for its role in the scheme to conceal the defects of millions of airbag inflators.
It was announced back in January by the U.S. Department of Justice that the Japanese parts manufacturer agreed to pay the fine for its role. The company also admitted to wire fraud and conspiracy related to the scheme.
That now officially closes the investigation end to the largest recall in U.S. automotive history. The airbags contained a chemical that can degrade over time when exposed to airborne moisture, and then can lead to explosions. At least 16 deaths and 180 injuries are blamed on the inflators.
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Auto manufacturers Should share the blame of any part failure regardless of whom manufactured the part . when they decide on any deal , they always have their own engineers check out the specs & performance of any part they are about too buy (mostly ,they do this to make sure they themselves can’t manufacture that part any cheaper ). so suck it up and take some blame.
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