It can be recalled that in August of 2009 Honda's ruptured airbag inflators were linked to least four injuries and a death. The automaker later quietly requested a design change and did not notify U.S. regulators, Honda confirmed in response to inquiries from Reuters.
Honda Motor Co asked supplier Takata to produce a "fail-safe" airbag inflator, according to Takata presentations and internal memos reviewed by Reuters.
The previously undisclosed redesign could make Honda and Takata more vulnerable in more than 100 pending federal lawsuits and dozens more state suits, according to several legal experts and an attorney suing the companies. The request shows that Honda understood the safety risks posed by the inflators long before it started expanding recalls by the millions in 2014, the attorneys and law professors said.
U.S. law requires automakers to disclose safety risks and actions to prevent them to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But Honda spokesman Chris Martin said the redesign did not require notice to regulators because the safety risk involved Takata manufacturing errors rather than a specific design defect.
Honda Motor Co asked supplier Takata to produce a "fail-safe" airbag inflator, according to Takata presentations and internal memos reviewed by Reuters.
The previously undisclosed redesign could make Honda and Takata more vulnerable in more than 100 pending federal lawsuits and dozens more state suits, according to several legal experts and an attorney suing the companies. The request shows that Honda understood the safety risks posed by the inflators long before it started expanding recalls by the millions in 2014, the attorneys and law professors said.
U.S. law requires automakers to disclose safety risks and actions to prevent them to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But Honda spokesman Chris Martin said the redesign did not require notice to regulators because the safety risk involved Takata manufacturing errors rather than a specific design defect.
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