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 The chemical, ammonium nitrate, "appears to be one of the factors"
contributing to inflator ruptures linked to six deaths and hundreds
of injuries, Kevin Kennedy, executive vice president of Takata
subsidiary TK Holdings, said.
Kennedy told a House subcommittee that Takata has "alternate
propellants now with guanidine nitrate. We started production a year
or two ago, and we’re continuing to ramp those up. I think overall
you will see our production of ammonium nitrate go down rapidly."
Takata is the only major air bag manufacturer using ammonium nitrate
as an air bag propellant. Kennedy said Takata plans to continue
using ammonium nitrate, including a newer version of the compound
that does not react as violently to moisture.
However, the company is still supplying some automakers with an
older inflator and propellant that uses an earlier version of the
compound. The older-style inflators also have been installed as
replacement parts in an unspecified number of vehicles over the past
year and may have to be replaced by newer designs, Kennedy said.
Representative Michael Burgess, the Texas Republican who chaired
Tuesday's House subcommittee hearing, said he "couldn't believe what
they were telling me."
"They are still making an air bag with ammonium nitrate as a
propellant without a desiccant and they're putting that in
replacement vehicles and new vehicles," Burgess said. "It almost
seems like there should be a warning label stamped on the car."
Kennedy said Takata has been buying replacement inflators from
competitors TRW Automotive Inc [TRWTA.UL] and Autoliv Inc <ALV.N>,
both of which use guanidine nitrate.
Last month, half of the replacement inflators that Takata shipped to
automakers came from TRW and Autoliv, Kennedy said, adding that the
figure will rise to 70 percent by the end of the year.
Kennedy said Takata has shipped 4 million replacement inflators to
automakers.
Earlier on Tuesday, the top U.S. auto safety regulator said that
some of those replacement parts may not offer consumers a remedy
that lasts the life of the car.
Many cars equipped with older Takata air bag systems could have to
be fixed more than once, said Mark Rosekind, head of the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
He told a House subcommittee on Tuesday that his agency is still
sifting through more than 2.4 million pages of documents from Takata,
and has not determined why some of Takata's air bag inflators
explode.
As a result, Rosekind said, parts being produced to fix more than 30
million vehicles included in a recall NHTSA ordered last month may
themselves have to be replaced.
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Lawmakers repeatedly asked Rosekind when owners of affected vehicles
can be sure that their air bags are safe.
Because of the size and scope of the recall, which now covers about
13 percent of U.S. cars on the road, "a replacement part may not be
immediately available" for some owners, Rosekind acknowledged.
Lawmakers wanted to know if those replacement parts are different
enough from the original parts that they will not experience similar
defects over time.
Rosekind in turn urged support for the proposed Grow America Act,
which would give NHTSA more budget and greater oversight over safety
defects, and would raise the maximum penalty that NHTSA could levy
on car companies and suppliers to $300 million from $35 million.
Rosekind said NHTSA plans a public hearing this fall on the Takata
air bag issues.
Those issues have taken on increasing urgency this year as Takata
has continued to expand the list of potentially defective air bags.
The inflators in those air bags are prone to rupture and send
shrapnel into vehicle occupants. They have been linked to hundreds
of injuries, according to NHTSA.
Ten passenger-car manufacturers since 2008 have announced recalls
involving ruptured inflators in Takata air bags, and their dealers
have been replacing the affected parts as they have become available
from the company and, more recently, other suppliers.
Another complication is that the recall involves both driver- and
passenger-side air bags. Neither Takata nor NHTSA can say how many
vehicles in total may be affected or how much overlap there may be.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit and David Morgan in
Washington; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Chris Reese)
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