Takata airbag exec to express regret at U.S. Congressional hearing

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http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ ... l-hearing-1.3097029

A senior executive of airbag maker Takata Corp. is expected to tell a U.S. Congressional hearing this afternoon that the company "deeply" regrets every rupture episode involving its defective airbags, especially those causing injury or death.

The defect has been linked to at least six deaths and more than 100 injuries.

Kevin Kennedy, executive vice president of North America for Takata, says in written testimony for a U.S. House hearing that the percentage of airbag inflators likely to have a problem is "extremely small" but Takata is replacing all of them.

The company has declared 33.8 million airbags defective in an agreement with U.S. regulators. It's the biggest auto-safety recall in U.S. history.

Takata is recalling roughly 34 million cars for airbags that might be defective. (Mihai Barbu/Reuters)

Several million vehicles in Canada have also been recalled, including 700,000 by Honda Canada.

"We are working with our automaker partners to transition to newer versions of driver inflators in our replacement kits, or inflators made by other suppliers that do not contain ammonium nitrate propellant," Kennedy said in testimony prepared for a House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee.