Yes, I agree that if any company should be held liable, it should be Takata.
I would leave it to our practicing attorneys answer who could be potentially liable and for what.
The manufacturers if I remember my business law class subjects on liability, could only be held liable if they themselves produced the defective part, if they designed it and had it built to their specification, or if they had been informed by the manufacturer or government of the problem and ignored it, didn’t issue a recall or make plans to fix the problem.
In this case, the companies didn’t produce it. In the bad old days, the US companies used to design the parts used on the car, so for example with an airbag igniter they likely would have their engineers design it to literally every part, then have vendors bid on it. With the airbag igniter it is even more removed, it is a standard item, like a 10 amp fuse or a tail light bulb, so the manufacturer is basically buying off the shelf components. Would be like if you built a deck, and the hangers holding the support beams were defective and the deck collapsed, would be kind of hard to blame you if everything else had been done right. As far as the company should have known, how? This is an off the shelf part, used in millions of cars across manufacturers, so how would they know? They don’t test the igniters like that, since they are off the shelf, so how could they know? Sure, if they started getting reports of people being injured when the airbag went off, and did nothing, then they would be negligent, but I don’t think that happened here. From what I know, it took a while before someone put together the pattern of accidents, it was probably NHTSA, and then that broadened into a formal investigation of and by Takata. It also took time for them to figure out the root cause was the inflator, takes a pattern of accidents and so forth. Apparently Takata realized they had a problem but also didn’t report it as they should of, I believe they already have been fined for that, and I am sure will face lawsuits.
I suspect people will try and sue the car companies, especially if Takata files for bankruptcy and there isn’t a likelyhood of collecting, the ‘deep pockets’ kind of thing, figuring a jury will be sympathetic and blame the car company, what is supposed to be liability and what ends up what a jury thinks it is sometimes defies reality.
Bumping this thread because it seems like this is the most recent relevant one. We got a notification today that the passenger side airbag in our Subaru (2007 Impreza) is affected. The infuriating thing is that they were just sending a notice to tell us not to have anyone sit in the passenger seat. Supposedly, they don’t have the parts to fix it and they’ll contact us when they come in. Ridiculous!
^hyperJulie, only passenger side?? My logic would have it that both sides would have the same airbag, no…??
As mentioned in another thread, Acura took the airbag issue pretty seriously and I drove a comparable rental car, at no cost to me, for two months until they got the new airbag and installed it. The local Enterprise dealership has been having a banner few months. Can you press Subaru for a rental?
We just got a notice for D’s 2007 Chevrolet Silverado truck. It says the truck is safe to drive and they will notify us when they have the replacement airbag. I admit I put the notice on my desk and haven’t yet investigated how it can be safe to drive but need a replacement.
it took MCB 6 MONTHS to receive replacement airbags from Japan.
I FINALLY got the notice to come in and have the airbags replaced last month.
I fear many more lives may be lost due to this Takata scandal
The SR management of Takata should be thrown in jail for the rest of their lives.
For all the lives that have been lost due to their greed and dishonesty.
gosmom ~ I just got the notice for recall for just my passenger side airbag inflator for my 2008 Honda Pilot two weeks ago. No mention of driver’s side. I called the dealer, they ordered the parts and did the work within four days of receiving the notice. I guess I have to wait to see if they send notice about the driver’s side.
I got my notice months ago and they still don’t have the parts. 
^same here. Cars are 2012 Honda and 2013 Audi.
I got the same notice @hyperJulie for my Outback. I am so annoyed. No idea when they are going to fix this problem but in the meantime, don’t ride in the passenger seat! So ridiculous
Oh they HAVE the parts. Yes they do. The thing is that they do not want to clog up their service departments with low $$ jobs such as airbag sensor replacement jobs. When Mr. called and scheduled our appt., the folks at the Toyota dealership told him 3 weeks before the part could get in. Ok, he shows up for the appointment… The part is in, but they want to make sure the car is OK. They tell him the water pump is bust And the car is leaking oil like a sieve… $1500 in addition to the sensor replacing. When Mr. told them he wanted JUST the sensor, the had to… reschedule. No kidding. No wonder we will never give a penny of our business to that dealer!
BB, slimy dealer! We took our 2009 CRV to our local dealer (we did not buy the car from this dealer) and got great service. We had a loaner within 3 days, drove it for a month, and had the work done in a few hours when the parts came in. No additional work done. Car has 90,000 miles on it. There are 2 separate recalls - the earlier recall is for the driver side, which we received, and the other recall which came out a little later is for the passenger side. We did not get the second recall. Some folks get both.
The risk increases as the airbag ages, and the risk increases as the airbag is exposed to high heat and humidity. They prioritized cars in several southern coastal states. My understanding is they are still installing faulty airbags in new cars, knowing that they will have to eventually recall them.
The driver’s airbag fits in the steering wheel, while the passenger’s airbag fits in the dash. Since they deploy differently, they could be of different designs.
Taking our Subaru dealer on Monday morning. We called in May and they told us they would call us in a few weeks.
Guessing I will be demanding a rental–will be so much nicer than ours and we need to go on a trip soon :x
The Subaru that I sold to my kid sevms to ne included. Does anyone know how subsequent owners are notified?
Our Silverado originally belonged to my FIL. The recall came to my H who is now the registered owner, so I’m assuming they go by car registration. I think the notice is from NTSB not Chevrolet.
If you’ve had success getting a free long-term loaner or free long-term rental from your dealership while you wait for a defective passenger-side only airbag to be replaced, please post here to help others. (Provide make of car and details/reason).
Even though my car is in a high heat and humidity airbag, its date is set in 2019. It’s ridiculous.
@Madison85…2015 Acura RDX. Dealer arranged for us to have similar sized suv for almost two months…and we put 4K miles on it. No Cost. We had to pick up from local Enterprise, and had to go in after a month and re-check out for another month (some internal Enterprise paperwork). We could have picked another car after a month if we wanted, but I’d just figured out all the buttons and knobs, so I declined. When my car finally ready, I just returned rental to dealership and they returned it to Enterprise. *** I’m pretty sure it was a passenger airbag…but will check with H for sure***