After 4 hours of questions, U.S. senators get no clear answers on air bag safety

“It was a shuffle, a two-step, side-step,”

Or, as we call it here in Japan. Par for the course and business as usual.

No accountability. It's spineless and infantile.

Takata started using a cheaper gas that is prone to the moisture problems mentioned above, without modifying the mechanical design. They just wanted to save money. Isn't that what investors want?

Responsibility? Culpability? Oh, no, no, no... My balls are in my Honda's glove compartment, back home.

In Japan.

Nonsense. how they expected to "get answers" in a forum like this is a beyond belief. Like so many of these hearings, just an opportunity for the members to posture and look concerned. Yes, takat may have switched to a different gas to make their bags cheaper, but does anyone really believe that they wanted people to die from their products. so of course they say sorry and don'rt admit to fault in public (imagine the field day the US legal system would have with that). This is not because Takata are Japanese - plenty others (Goldman, Bof A for 2) have gone before congrsess and pretty much admitted to or explained nothing

Love the face in the photo - I can almost hear the teeth sucking at this distance!

"Chotto..."

I saw some of the hearing on TV. The Japanese guy (maybe a VP) is trying to explain completely the problems, but the Senator seems only to have a twitter attention span, and only wants to hear YES or NO. NOW! And the senator is really enjoying lording over the Japanese guy.

"senators never got a clear answer to the question most people have: whether or not their cars are safe."

The answer is perfectly clear: probably not.

I saw some of the hearing on TV. The Japanese guy (maybe a VP) is trying to explain completely the problems, but the Senator seems only to have a twitter attention span, and only wants to hear YES or NO. NOW! And the senator is really enjoying lording over the Japanese guy.

Nonsense. It was a very straight-forward question -- Do you intend to expand the recall nationally? And he refused to say yes or no. You see, unlike in Japan, if a company exec starts out by saying Takata is

“deeply sorry and anguished” about each instance of air bag inflators not performing as designed. He said the company accepts responsibility for three deaths" then it is the job of our elected officials to find out exactly what that means, not simply get away with a bow and some meaningless words. We expect these folks to protect us, not whitewash corporate irresponsibility.

Let these Japanese have a meaningful American experience: prison.

The manufacturer claims to be anguished? Sure thing. Their anguish is nothing compared to the anguish of the family of the deceased.

WHAT do you EXPECT from them ? Have you learned NOTHING from the PAST ?

WA4TKGNov. 22, 2014 - 01:30AM JST

WHAT do you EXPECT from them ? Have you learned NOTHING from the PAST ?

.....and by "them", you mean......... who?

Does anyone know whether all problematic Airbags were made by just Mexico’s Takata factories or all Takata factories in other countries too?

I have read about Takata Company's Mexico factories has quality controlling problem.

I saw some of the hearing on TV. The Japanese guy (maybe a VP) is trying to explain completely the problems, but the Senator seems only to have a twitter attention span, and only wants to hear YES or NO. NOW! And the senator is really enjoying lording over the Japanese guy.

The "yes or no" question was pretty straight forward:

Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) challenged Takata Vice President Hiroshi Shimizu about whether his company supported a nationwide recall rather than limiting the recall to humid regions where the air bags have been known to malfunction.

“It’s hard for me to answer yes or no,” Shimizu said.

“It’s not hard to answer yes or no,” Markey responded.

“I can’t answer,” Shimizu said.

“I’m going to take that as a no,” Markey said. “I think that you’re plain wrong. Your company is making a big mistake in not supporting [a nationwide] recall.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/senate-quizzes-manufacturer-of-defective-airbags/2014/11/20/2d296adc-7043-11e4-893f-86bd390a3340_story.html

an exchange between Sen Dean Heller, R-Nev, and Honda Executive Vice President Rick Schostek pretty much summed up the day.

Heller, who has an 18-year-old daughter, pointedly asked if it is safe for her to drive their 2007 Honda Civic.

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Glad Heller talked on realistic case..

Unlike politicians with twitter attention spans, the VP has to wait for actual information from police investigations and reports to find out what happened. He has no access to the crash vehicles etc. Politicians seem not to understand the process and time frame for developing the facts into a coherent and reliable picture, accent on "reliable".

Corporate coverup, political grandstanding as usual. How about arresting some executives who were steering the ship when the Takata research team knew about the problem and were silenced. Big business and politics are cozy bedfellows

Unlike politicians with twitter attention spans, the VP has to wait for actual information from police investigations and reports to find out what happened. He has no access to the crash vehicles etc. Politicians seem not to understand the process and time frame for developing the facts into a coherent and reliable picture, accent on "reliable".

The Congressman wasn't asking who was at fault, he was only asking if Takata would agree to a nationwide recall of the affect bags. This is something you KNOW was discussed by Takata executives prior to Hiroshi Shimizu sitting in front of the Congressmen, so there's no excuse for not having at least SOME answer to the question. The reason he "couldn't answer" was that the answer was "No" and everyone in the room knew it.