Takata is set to plead guilty February 27 in federal court in Detroit to a single felony count of wire fraud to deal with a U.S. Justice Department examination into ruptures of its air bag inflators connected to a minimum of 16 deaths worldwide, as per a court filing Tuesday.
Last month, the auto parts company accepted the guilty plea as part of a $1 billion settlement in the recall.
Takata is presently responsible for the largest auto recall in history. Having recalled 40 million vehicles across 12 vehicle brands for “airbags that could explode and potentially send shrapnel into the face and body of both the driver and front seat passenger”.
U.S. prosecutors likewise charged 3 former senior Takata executives in Japan with falsifying test results in conceal the inflator defect connected the recall of about 100 million air bag inflators globally.
Takata has accepted to pay a $25 million fine, $125 million in a victim compensation fund, consisting of future occurrences, and $850 million to compensate automakers for enormous recall expenses, the Justice Department stated. The vehicle parts provider will be needed to make considerable reforms and be on probation and under the oversight of an independent monitor for 3 years.
In past month, three senior Takata executives in the United States quit the company, consisting of Kevin Kennedy, who was president of Takata North America.
