Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) frustrated over the recalls and with the Air bag Company Takata corp over the failure of the its airbags, have decided to take matters in own hands. Honda was so concerned with the recent events that it has bought used and scrapped cars in Japan to conduct its own tests.
Honda found quality issues
Citing two officials Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC), Reuters reports that tests on 100-150 Takata air bags were conducted, in the first half of the year, and it was found that the Takata’s manufacturing quality have certain flaws.
The sources informed that to test the inflators the officials the company decided to conduct their own tests as they had doubts that Takata is not matching the agreed specifications.
“When we did not receive a clear analysis of what was happening, we decided to conduct our own tests … and we found the quality of those inflators to be all over the map in term of key quality metrics.”
Overall, 21 million vehicles have been recalled since 2008 over defective Takata inflators. The Japanese company has alone recalled around 14 million cars mostly from the US where 4 of 5 deaths occurred. The other one happened in Malaysia.
Takata denying any tests from Honda
In defense, Takata denied the whole process of Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) testing the used airbags. They said that Honda does not have any problem with the company, and no such quality problem was found.
In a statement, Takata spokesman said that if any quality defects are found by Honda in its tests, then the company would have communicated it to Takata. The spokesman added, that he is not aware of any such communication between Toyota and Takata.
However, insiders at Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) said that the tests did not identify the cause of the defect, but led the company to conclude that manufacturing quality issues could be the reason. Honda’s chief spokesman Kaoru Tanaka confirmed that the automaker does conduct quality tests at times when defects are suspected, but they do not release any results on specific test.
There is no information if Honda carried similar tests in the U.S. However, it is believed that the automakers involved in the U.S. recall could soon hire an outside engineering firm to test Takata air bags.
