Takata Airbag Recall Faces Rising Scrutiny

Capitol Hill increased pressure on the Japanese auto supplier Takata and federal safety regulators on Wednesday as two senators demanded wider recalls to fix millions of defective airbags and a House committee said it wanted a fuller accounting of how the recalls were handled.

In the draft of a sternly worded letter expected to be sent on Thursday, Senators Richard Blumenthal and Edward J. Markey scolded the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for its handling of the recalls.

The senators reprimanded the agency for allowing automakers to limit the recalls to certain geographic areas with 'high humidity.'

In June, about 900,000 vehicles from nine automakers containing the faulty airbags were recalled in two states, Florida and Hawaii, and two territories, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. High humidity, regulators said, could cause the propellant to erupt, sending shrapnel into the cabin. At least three deaths and more than 100 injuries have been attributed to the rupturing airbags made by Takata.

'N.H.T.S.A. should immediately issue a nationwide safety recall on all the affected cars, regardless of where the car is registered,' they wrote in the draft, which was addressed to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, whose agency oversees N.H.T.S.A. 'All states experience seasons of heat and humidity.'

The senators also scolded the safety agency for its handling of the recall. 'We have become increasingly troubled and alarmed by the confusing and conflicting advice being issued by N.H.T.S.A., and the glacial pace of the agency's response to this public safety threat,' said the draft of the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times.

Last week, the senators outlined similar concerns to David J. Friedman, the safety agency's acting administrator.

On Monday, the safety agency issued an unusual warning, urging car owners with the defective airbags to 'act immediately' and have their vehicles fixed.

But a shortage of replacement parts has meant that many drivers who scrambled to take heed of that advice face wait times of months or longer. At least one manufacturer, Toyota, even said it could disable passenger-side airbags in affected cars for which parts were not available, and instruct owners not to use that seat.

Senator Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, and Senator Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, criticized the safety agency over that move, saying they were 'alarmed and astonished' over its endorsement of a 'troubling and potentially dangerous' policy that they said was also possibly illegal.

'We are also unaware of any risk assessment or other analysis conducted by N.H.T.S.A. or automobile manufacturers showing that more lives would be saved than lost by disabling these airbags,' they wrote in the draft.

Instead, the senators said that the owners of cars deserved access to free loaner cars while they waited for repairs to their vehicles.

No automakers have committed to providing loaner cars, however. Honda and Toyota, the automakers most affected by the recalls, have said they will decide on whether to provide such cars case by case.

The letter was written as Representative Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he would ask government regulators to explain their handling of the Takata airbag recalls 'to ensure that the appropriate steps are being taken to protect drivers and their families.'

The committee would 'take a close look at this airbag issue and the timeline and scope of the recalls,' Mr. Upton said in a statement.

The committee, which previously led an aggressive investigation of General Motors over faulty ignition switches, and of Toyota over reports of unintended acceleration several years ago, has requested an initial briefing from the safety agency, according to a committee spokeswoman, Charlotte Baker.

Senator Claire McCaskill, the Missouri Democrat who heads a Senate subcommittee on consumer protection, has requested a similar briefing. She has asked automakers, including Honda, for information about Takata as well. Ms. McCaskill has led several hearings this year on the ignition switch defect at General Motors and the role of the auto safety regulators in rooting out dangerous defects.

Worldwide, more than 14 million vehicles with the defective airbags - including 11.6 million in the United States - from 11 automakers have been recalled since 2008. Takata was alerted to the problem as early as 2004, when the airbag in a 2002 Honda Accord ruptured in Alabama, but neither Tanaka nor Honda issued a recall or sought the involvement of federal safety regulators, a New York Times investigation has shown.

Alby Berman, a spokesman for Takata, which is based in Tokyo, did not respond to requests for comment. Early Wednesday, he addressed the parts shortage, saying in an email that the company was 'in constant contact with N.H.T.S.A. and update them on our customers schedules as we receive them.'

Officials at the safety agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The delays by Honda and Takata in alerting the public about the defect meant other automakers like BMW, Toyota and Nissan were not aware of possible defects in their own vehicles for years, putting off their own recalls.

Meanwhile, the ruptures continue. This month, Hien Tran, 51, died after the airbag in her 2001 Honda Accord ruptured, sending pieces of metal into her neck. Detectives who had initially suspected Ms. Tran was murdered said last week that her wounds were consistent with injuries caused by shrapnel from an exploding airbag.

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