Senators Frustrated at Slow Pace of Takata Airbag Recall and Loaner Car Policies
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Only six of the 17 automakers involved in the wide-ranging Takata airbag recall have adequate loaner car policies for customers that are waiting for parts to become available, according to a Senate report.
The 11 companies falling short are “putting their customers at risk of death or horrific injuries,” according to the staff report of two senior Democrats on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Edward Markey of Massachusetts.
The senate report was released as the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing into the still-ongoing Takata airbag recall. Senators expressed frustration that some consumers are still waiting for repairs, four years since regulators began to investigate the defect, and more than two years since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration took over the management of the recall. And it has been 10 years after the initial recall of some Takata airbag inflators, noted Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, the chairman of the Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Subcommittee.
Uneven progress
“NHTSA still seems to be playing a game of regulatory whack-a-mole and twiddling its thumbs when it comes to actually enforcing the coordinated recall approach and benchmarks for automakers,” said Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, the senior Democrat on the Commerce Committee.
Heidi King, NHTSA’s acting administrator, told senators that automakers have made progress, even though the agency isn’t satisfied with the overall completion rates. There are currently 50 million airbag inflators under recall, affecting 37 million vehicles, King said. More than 21 million defective airbags already have been repaired, she said.
“Prioritizing repairs does mean some vehicle owners might have to wait for replacement air bags,” King said. “That is deeply frustrating. But it also means that parts are available immediately to fix vehicles that pose a greater risk.”
By design, several more phases of the Takata recall are still to come. Waves of vehicles are scheduled to be added in each of the next two years, and officials expect it to take a couple more years for all the airbag repairs to be completed.
Loaner policies vary
In the meantime, some consumers who know their Takata airbags will eventually need to be replaced are too worried to drive their vehicles, Blumenthal and Markey said. Consumers will have a vastly different experience in getting a loaner car while they wait based on their manufacturers’ own voluntary policies, according to the Senate staff report.
The six companies that have the most comprehensive loaner policies with the fewest restrictions are BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Honda, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota, according to the report.
For example, Honda said its policy is to make free loaner cars available when parts aren’t available, and that all dealers are authorized to do this without prior approval. The policy applies not only to Takata, but also any safety recall, it said.
Ford, GM, Ferrari, Mitsubishi, Daimler Trucks and Daimler Vans all said loaner cars are determined on a case-by-case basis. Mercedes said there’s no corporate loaner program, but it expects dealerships “to respond to customer requests as practically as possible.”
Volkswagen said its dealers can provide loaners at their own expense, with no reimbursement from VW. Tesla said it provides loaners only while recall repairs are being completed. Jaguar Land Rover and Mazda declined to spell out their loaner policies, because they are trade secrets.
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