NHTSA Protects Takata Profits Over Safety
August, 2015
“Takata Corp (7312.T), which is recalling 34 million defective air bag inflators, has proposed a plan to address concerns about the safety of the replacement parts it is providing to consumers – but the details are not available to the public.
A proposed Takata testing plan, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted to its website on Tuesday, totals 37 pages. But the auto safety watchdog agency agreed to make 35 pages blank, after the Japanese manufacturer requested confidentiality over contents that include proprietary information.
“It is not public information because it is confidential business information,” said NHTSA spokesman Gordon Trowbridge.
Takata’s testing plans attempt to deal with two central questions for regulators, lawmakers and safety advocates: whether the air bag inflators now being used to replace defective parts are safe — and for how long.
The recall, which U.S. officials have described as the largest in U.S. history, involves millions of vehicles made by 11 automakers and equipped with Takata air bag inflators that can explode with too much force, spraying shrapnel into passenger compartments. The devices have been linked to at least eight deaths and more than 100 injuries. See:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/11/us-autos-takata-airbags-idUSKCN0QG2C720150811
Hmnnn 35 out of 37 pages blanked out by NHTSA.
Same old NHTSA policies of protecting profits rather than people. How would publication of the information in those 35 pages not advance safety?
