A number of car companies were accused of delaying the recall of Takata's defective airbags

According to CNBC website, according to three class-action lawsuits submitted to the federal court of Miami, USA on Wednesday, long before the recall was initiated, car manufacturers such as General Motors, Fiat-Chrysler, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, etc. knew that there were explosion hazards in Takata airbag inflator. .

These lawsuits cited company documents previously obtained through lawsuits against other automakers and Takata. In the litigation documents, the plaintiffs claimed that during the test period, the car manufacturers learned that there were defects in the air pump, but they had not taken any action. The complaint against General Motors is the most serious. Takata documents show that as early as 2003, General Motors expressed concern about the rupture of the air pump.

On Wednesday, the media have voiced their hopes that the companies involved will comment.

Takata used chemical ammonium nitrate to make a small explosion to inflate the airbag. However, the chemical deteriorates when exposed to high temperatures and humid air. If too much pressure is applied at this time, the inflator will cause an explosion, causing the metal container to burst and the debris to be injected around with the impulse. At least 22 people worldwide have died in accidents related to this problem, and more than 180 have been injured.

This issue triggered the largest series of car recalls in U.S. history, and 19 automakers had to recall 68 million inflator pumps for 42 million cars. This problem also caused Takata to commit criminal crimes and fines, forcing the company to apply for bankruptcy protection.

These class actions strengthened the individual claims previously filed. They claimed that they had paid too much for the car. If this defect were disclosed, then the price of these cars would fall accordingly.

The plaintiffs also claimed that manufacturers chose Gaotian to supply the air pump because its cost is much lower than that of other airbag manufacturers, and other car manufacturers use different, more stable chemicals to inflate. According to litigation documents, employees recalled the quality and performance of Takata's air pump before recalling the car.

Peter Purito, the chief lawyer who defended the plaintiff, said: "These car manufacturers had known about the public safety risks that Takada airbag charging pumps could bring long ago, but they waited many years before they announced and acted." These lawsuits are an important step in the pursuit of their responsibilities.

The lawsuit document for GM pointed out that during the communication with Takada in April 2003, GM was very worried about the "variability of the injection trajectory," indicating that there is a tendency for airbags to either inflate or explode. The document also stated that after visiting the Takata Plant in Moses Lake, Washington, in 2003, an GM engineer was concerned about issues such as improper testing, poor humidity control, and Takada's inconformity with GM's technical specifications.

In 2004, Takada employees met with General Motors to discuss the tendency of the inflated pump to burst. In March 2006, Takata announced that the inflator tested for General Motors continued to exhibit “attack”, including jetting at the time of rupture. Takada employees also admitted that "there is no satisfactory answer in the design process of the air pump."

However, General Motors did not initiate any recalls until June 2014. In June 2014, the automaker recalled 29,000 Chevrolet Cruze minicars from 2013 to 2014. The recall was still announced in Gaotian in 2010 after three accidents involving an inflated pump.

In 2011 and 2014, General Motors also received reports of actual problems, including an accident in which Cruz drivers had been smashed by an injection of an inflator pump. General Motors and Takata have attributed this trouble to manufacturing issues rather than ammonium nitrate deterioration.

The old GM who filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009 knew this problem, and the new GM after bankruptcy protection retained some employees who knew the problem.

The litigation documents also claimed that since 2003 Volkswagen has reflected quality problems to Takata more than once, and has even returned to its products after an inspection. However, the car manufacturer did not initiate a recall until 2016. In 2003, Mercedes-Benz car manufacturer Daimler also worried about the integrity of Takata's air pump. In 2004, Mercedes-Benz engineers agreed to ignore key performance indicators and allowed the use of Takata's air pump. The car manufacturer did not initiate a recall until 2016.

According to the litigation documents, Fiat Chrysler did not initiate the first recall until 2014, even though its engineers expressed concerns about Takata's air pump early in the 21st century.