Honda bans Takata airbags from future vehicles

TOKYO -- Citing manipulation and misrepresentation by airbag maker Takata Corp., Honda Motor Co. said it will ban the company from supplying airbags for all of its future models.

On a global basis, no new Honda and Acura models currently under development will be equipped with front-driver or passenger-side Takata airbag inflators, Honda said in a statement Tuesday. 

Honda has long been Takata's largest customer. 

The decision came after Honda in recent months reviewed millions of pages of Takata internal documents related to litigation over defective airbag inflators that have been linked to eight deaths, all of which occurred in Honda vehicles.

“As a result of our review of these documents, we have become aware of evidence that suggests that Takata misrepresented and manipulated test data for certain airbag inflators,” Honda said in the statement. “Honda expects its suppliers to act with integrity at all times and we are deeply troubled by this apparent behavior by one of our suppliers.”

Honda's statement did not name other suppliers it plans to use. Besides Takata, the major players in the business are Daicel Corp. of Japan, TRW Automotive (now part of Germany's ZF Friedrichshafen AG) and Autoliv of Sweden. 

Honda’s move comes as U.S. regulators fine the Japanese safety system supplier $70 million and hit the company with a consent order demanding quicker reaction to the massive airbag recalls. Takata faces another $130 million in fines if it fails to comply with the consent order, U.S. regulators  said in a statement Tuesday. 

Honda said it shared its findings of the documents with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It did not come forward earlier out of deference to the agency, it said.

Honda said investigations into the root cause of the exploding inflators is ongoing and warned further actions made be needed.

In the United States, Honda said its recall completion rate is 41 percent and exceeds 42 percent in the region with the highest heat and humidity targeted by NHTSA as most critical.