Takata must supply answers, replacement parts

It's time for Takata Corp. to open up about airbags it manufactured that have prompted U.S. recalls of 11 million vehicles since 2008. The Japan-based supplier must be forthcoming about how airbag inflators that may malfunction and spray metal shrapnel into car interiors could be installed in so many vehicles for so long.

Takata must stop its practice of addressing the media and its own shareholders through press releases and company executives unwilling to be identified by name. CEO Shigehisa Takada must answer questions publicly and in detail. He owes straight answers to regulators, investigators, auto manufacturer customers, dealers making recall repairs, Takata shareholders and especially consumers affected by the recall.

His failure to provide those frustrates efforts of automakers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to replace airbags quickly. Potentially worse, with spooked Tokyo investor analysts unsure about continued governance at the supplier, CEO Takada's stonewalling threatens to slow the production of millions of replacement inflators.

Two U.S. senators have demanded a criminal investigation, a U.S. Senate hearing is scheduled, a federal grand jury has subpoenaed Takata records and a lawsuit alleges that Takata executives in 2004 ordered the destruction of internal testing results that revealed some defective inflators. Takata disputes that account, which arose from a report in The New York Times.

Takata's immediate responsibility is clear. Regardless of expense, it must speedily manufacture safe and durable inflators to repair all recalled vehicles. And starting with CEO Takada, it must answer to regulators, customers and the public with honesty, candor and openness.