Takata Corp. pled guilty in a U.S. federal court to felony charges stemming from its faulty airbag inflators

One felony count of wire fraud. That was the result of the Justice Department's investigation into 16 deaths involving cars that used its airbags, Automotive News reports.

Takata confirmed it would pay out $1 billion as part of a settlement, and also that it would be pleading guilty in the case. Additionally, three high-ranking Takata executives have been charged with falsifying test results in an attempt to cover up the company's 100 million defective airbag inflators.

According to the U.S. Senate, every new car sold by Ferrari today uses faulty Takata airbags that will be scheduled to be recalled by the end of 2018

http://www.thedrive.com/news/7477/takata-will-plead-guilty-to-wire-fraud-by-februarys-end
http://www.thedrive.com/news/4508/every-new-ferrari-on-sale-today-has-faulty-takata-airbags
http://www.thedrive.com/news/7973/takata-pleads-guilty-to-felony-in-1-billion-settlement

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Suzuki issues recall for a single Cappuccino. Right, only one model exists, and they issued a recall.

Suzuki has launched a nationwide recall campaign in Japan that affects only one car. That’s not a typo. There is apparently only a single 1996 Suzuki Cappuccino with the problem, and rather than reach out to the owner directly, the company issued a standard recall as if it impacted thousands of cars.

Even more amazing, the problem was a minor oversight at the factory that didn’t change the car’s operability one iota, and it took them 21 years to realize it.

More astonishing, the reason was that the engine didn’t have it’s K6A stamp on it. That’s it. How they even realized they forgot to stamp a single engine over two decades ago is beyond imagination

Essentially, the owner of this car just got a lucky break because their 21-year-old engine gets replaced from the factory, for free, with a brand new K6A with zero miles on it.

http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/news-suzuki-issues-recall-for-single-cappuccino/

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BMW to recall cars over air bag fears

BMW is recalling about 1.6 million 3-Series vehicles produced between May 1999 and August 2006 worldwide. They will replace passenger-side front airbags made by Takata Corp because the inflators could break apart during deployment and injure passengers.

The recall is an extension of last year's recall of 240,000 cars globally for the same issue, he said.

The air bag supplied by Japan's Takata has also affected Honda Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co, Mazda Motor Corp, Fuji Heavy Industries-owned Subaru, Mitsubishi, Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Chrysler brand.

This latest recall will affect about 574,000 in the United States, about 450,000 in Germany and about 189,000 in the United Kingdom.

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More problems for Toyota

According to reports the Toyota recall due to gas pedal problems could cost the company around US $2 billion. Apparenalty it was due to a software problem but this has definitely hurt consumer's trust in this car company.

The story does not end there. Just found out that the US authorities are launching an investigation regarding problems in the 2010 Toyota Prius as well. Can't help but wonder there are vested interests working here considering the fact that the US Govt, has stake in the US car makers - General Motors and Chrysler.

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