WASHINGTON: Tokyo-based Takata on Monday formally pleaded guilty to fraud and will pay a billion-dollar fine to settle suits over its defective airbags, the US Justice Department said. The car parts maker had agreed to plead guilty to fraud and pay US$1 billion to settle the issue with US regulators. The recall of more than 100 million airbags has affected almost every major automaker. Takata has admitted that from 2000-2015 it defrauded "customers and auto manufacturers by providing false and manipulated airbag inflator test data that made the performance of the company's airbag inflators appear better than it actually was," a Justice Department statement said. "Even after the inflators began to experience repeated problems in the field - including ruptures causing injuries and deaths - Takata executives continued to withhold the true and accurate inflator test information and data from their customers."

Source: New Strait Times February 28, 2017 02:03 UTC