http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/business/takata-resists-midnight-deadline-to-expand-airbag-recall.html 2014-12-02 20:27:01 Takata Resists Midnight Deadline to Expand Airbag Recall The chief executive of the Japanese auto supplier stopped short of saying the company would comply with the demand of United States regulators. === Facing a midnight deadline to expand a recall of defective airbags, Takata, the Japanese auto supplier, continued on Tuesday to resist the demand by United States regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the company an ultimatum last week, to expand the recall beyond the small geographic region it currently covers or face further legal action and potential penalties. It gave Takata until midnight Tuesday to comply with the order. But in a statement released Tuesday morning, Takata’s chief executive, Shigehisa Takada, stopped short of making such a move. “We recognize that N.H.T.S.A. has urged Takata and our customers to support expansions of the current regional campaigns in the United States,” Mr. Takada said, without saying the company would comply. The company’s response is likely to set up a showdown at a hearing before a House panel on Wednesday when a Takata representative is scheduled to testify, along with some of the affected automakers. Lawmakers have been calling for more aggressive action on the airbags, including at a Senate hearing on Nov. 20. David J. Friedman, deputy administrator of the safety agency, is also expected to testify. The agency originally agreed in June to a limited recall that covered Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. But regulators pushed for a national recall after learning of an airbag rupture in August in a 2007 Eleven carmakers have recalled more than 14 million cars worldwide, including more than 11 million in the United States, to repair the airbags. At least five deaths have been linked to the airbags, which can explode violently when they deploy, sending shrapnel flying into the cabin. All occurred in vehicles made by Honda, Takata’s largest customer. Toyota on Tuesday called for the auto industry to independently test Takata airbag inflators that had been the subject of recalls, to supplement testing being undertaken by Takata. “Toyota is seeking industrywide coordination in support of a yet-to-be-named independent engineering analysis expert to test airbag inflators,” the company said in a statement. “Independent testing will allow the affected automakers to share test results and analyses, and better understand how best to implement recall repairs.” A Toyota representative will also appear before the House committee on Wednesday. Abbas Saadat, a regional product safety executive for Toyota North America, wrote in House testimony, made available ahead of the hearing, that the company wanted “additional assurances about the integrity and quality of Takata’s manufacturing processes, particularly in light of previous experiences.” Mr. Takada, in his statement, addressed some concerns raised by senators in the Nov. 20 hearing. He said the company was forming a quality assurance panel, which would prepare a report on the company’s current manufacturing procedures. The panel, which will be led by Samuel K. Skinner, a former White House chief of staff and transportation secretary under President George H. W. Bush, is reminiscent of an internal audit that General Motors set up because of its deadly ignition switch crisis this year to examine how the events leading up to the recalls unfolded. It was unclear whether Takata’s panel would scrutinize past events. The company will also work with other manufacturers to “expand the flexibility of Takata’s replacement program,” which could help ramp up production of parts to repair vehicles. Mr. Takada said the company was “examining the possible use of competitor products as replacement wherever safe and feasible.” The use of other suppliers is a concession to concerns raised at the Senate hearing last month. Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said that Takata’s production of 300,000 replacement parts a month — with a goal of eventually increasing production to 450,000 parts a month — was too low. He encouraged Takata to use other suppliers to help increase production. “They are unwilling to commit to anything more than 300,000 replacement parts a month, which means it will take three years,” he said. “Even if they meet the 450,000 goal, the hope, it will take more than two years.”