Takata airbag recall tally soars in US, company faces federal investigation, NHTSA apologises

NHTSA expand recall tally to 7.8 million vehicles this week as federal prosecutors investigate whether the supplier made misleading statements regarding the safety of its airbags.

Attention has been focused this week on the issue of repairing airbags from supplier Takata, on the potential for faulty inflators. The faulty inflators have been tied to four fatalities, in which the airbags deployed with too much force and ejected shrapnel into the vehicles' occupants, and Takata faces lawsuits from drivers with severe injuries from shrapnel. All four vehicle fatalities involve Honda products, though vehicles from 10 manufacturers that sourced from Takata are involved. All 10 manufacturers, as well as Takata, are fully co-operating with the NHTSA investigation.