NHTSA gives Honda three-week deadline to respond over air bag incidents

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Monday said that it has initiated a probe against Honda Motor Co Ltd in order to examine whether the company failed to report the deaths or injuries caused by air bags failure, which are under sweeping federal review.

“The agency has received information indicating that [Honda] failed to report incidents involving Takata air bags. The agency is also concerned that Honda’s reporting failures go beyond the Takata incidents,” NHTSA said in a statement highlighting it was particularly eyeing air bag malfunctions.

According to the reports, the regulators have given the auto firm three-week deadline to submit its detailed responses for the series of questions, asking how the company logged accident reports for over a decade.

The reports said that under the Monday’s order, which includes 34 points, Honda is asked to answer all the questions under oath.

“Honda and the other automakers are legally obligated to report this information to us and failure to do so will not be tolerated,” David Friedman, NHTSA Deputy Administrator, said in a statement.

The US law needs that the automobile companies must submit a quarterly basis so-called Early Warning Reporting data to the NHTSA on every incident where they have got information regarding deaths or injuries involving their vehicles, saying any form of defect in the vehicle might have caused the incident.

Meanwhile, Honda in a statement released on Monday evening said that it had given contract to a third-party to prepare the audit of potential inaccuracies and will soon share the findings with NHTSA.

Over 10 million cars have been recalled in the US, while more than 17 million worldwide by ten global automakers using Takata air bags since 2008. These recalled vehicles that have been associated with at least four deaths and several serious injuries were replaced with the inflators.

Bio
Latest Posts

Christina Langfold

Remember that weird girl in school who never quite managed to fit in? Who was always silent and strange? That was me during my entire teenage life. A few years after finishing college (with a degree in arts) I decided that the best way to become more sociable, while also feeling safe, is to test my people skills online.