Research Paper On Takata

Takata was founded in 1933 in Shiga Prefecture, Japan, by Takezo Takada and started to produce lifelines for parachutes, and other textiles for the WWII Imperial Japanese Army. The original name of Takata was Takata Kojo Corporation. Later they incorporated as "Takata". In the early 1950s, the company started to research seat belts. In the 1960s Takata began production and sales of the first two-point seat belts. They also constructed a crash test facility and performed crash tests with dummies to test their seat belts. In the 1970s Takata began their initial research on airbags. In the late 1980s Takata began production of the driver side airbag and in the 1990s the company began production of passenger side airbags and airbag cushions.

Honda Motor recalled 4,000 Accords and Civics (2001 models) globally as Takata airbag inflators were thought to produce excessive internal pressure causing them to rupture and spray metal fragments in the car. A few years later on April 27, 2011 the Takata airbag recall expanded. Honda recalled 896,000 Honda and Acura 2001-03 cars. Defective Takata airbag inflators were installed as replacement parts. On April 11, 2013 Toyota Motor, Honda, Nissan Motor and Mazda Motor recalled 3.4 million vehicles globally due to possibly defective Takata airbags. On April 18, 2013 Takata expected a $307 million dollar loss due to the airbag recall. On May 7, 2013 BMW joined the Takata airbag recall. A few days later on May 10, 2013 Takata posted record $212.5 million annual net loss. The next year on June 11, 2014 Toyota expanded its prior recall to 2.27 million vehicles globally. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began to investigate. It examined whether driving in high humidity regions contributed to the risk of Takata airbag explosions. However, Takata said there is nothing to indicate any inflator safety defects. On June 23, 2014 Honda, Nissan and Mazda recall 2.95 million vehicles. This brought the total recall to about 10.5 million vehicles over five years. On June 26, 2014 Takata CEO apologized to shareholders at AGM. On October 27, 2014 a first case seeking class-action status was filed in Florida. It claimed that Takata and automakers, including Honda and Toyota, concealed fundamental information on airbags. On November 7, 2014 The New York Times reported that Takata ordered technicians to destroy results of tests on some airbags after finding cracks in inflators. Democratic lawmakers then called for criminal investigation into Takata. One month later there was a U.S. Senate hearing regarding the Takata airbag crisis. At the U.S. Senate hearing on December 4, 2014, Takata