The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) may invoke an infrequently used provision in the National Traffic and Motor Safety Act to force suppliers to produce replacement Takata airbag inflator modules.
According to Reuters, NHTSA chief Mark Rosekind told lawmakers that NHTSA has the authority to require the production of replacement equipment by otherwise uninvolved manufacturers if a safety issue poses the threat of injury or death and a recall cannot otherwise address it in a timely manner.
According to Reuters, NHTSA chief Mark Rosekind told lawmakers that NHTSA has the authority to require the production of replacement equipment by otherwise uninvolved manufacturers if a safety issue poses the threat of injury or death and a recall cannot otherwise address it in a timely manner.
The provision has been in place since 2000–not long after the Ford/Firestone recall.
Takata warned as early as November that it would be unable to meet the demands of a nationwide recall. NHTSA has since engaged several other suppliers to supplement production Despite pledges from multiple parties, the potential output is still far short of what is necessary to meet the demand of a recall that now affects as many as 17 million vehicles.
So far, potential defects in only 2 million of those vehicles have been addressed. Regulators have not yet reached a decision to invoke the Safety Act, nor do they have a timetable for doing so.
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