Takata recommends all batwing inflators be removed from any U.S.-registered vehicle

Takata Corporation, the Japanese company behind the recent massive air bag recall, has recommended that all “batwing driver inflators in any vehicle registered anywhere in the United States” be replaced in national recalls to be conducted by the affected automakers.

In written testimony Tuesday before a U.S. congressional hearing by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Kevin Kennedy, executive vice president of North America for TK Holdings Inc., said that most of the ruptures that have occurred in vehicles on the road have involved older versions or airbag inflators with original “batwing-shaped propellant wafers.”

Related: New law coming to compel vehicle recalls, fine car companies that don’t comply

To date, there have been 67 reported cases in the U.S. of “field ruptures” involving these inflators, Kennedy said in his testimony, with 58 of those ruptures occurring in “vehicles that were already subject to previous recalls involving identified issues with the pressing of the propellant wafers in some of these inflators.”

Last month, Takata Corporation www.takata.com announced the largest recall in U.S. history involving 34 million air bag inflators that were blamed for six deaths in the country. The recall also affected at least 1.5 million vehicles in Canada.

Related: Takata airbag recall affects 1.2 million vehicles in Canada

Based on research and ongoing testing and analysis of returned inflators, “Takata’s best current judgement is that the potential for rupture is related to long-term exposure, over a period of several years, to persistent conditions of high heat and high absolute humidity,” Kennedy wrote. “In certain circumstances, these conditions can result in an alteration in the propellant wafers in the inflators that could potentially lead to over-aggressive combustion.”

Kennedy added that the research suggests that the “potential for this long-term phenomenon to occur was not within the scope of the testing specifications prescribed by automakers or comprehended within the industry’s inflator validation practice when the inflators were originally made.”

Related: U.S. safety agency starts process to take over management of Takata air bag recall

Kennedy said that the national recall of batwing inflators will proceed in four stages. The first will involve targetting of older vehicles that have never been registered in the southern states, Hawaill and “territories where the levels of absolute humidity are higher than anywhere else in the country.” Subsequent stages will target driver inflators manufactured in later years and vehicles registered in other states outside the areas of high humidity.

“The recalls will continue until we have replaced all of these driver inflators, from start of production to end of production, and they will include vehicles manufactured by five different automakers – Honda, BMW, Chrysler, Ford and Mazda,” Kennedy wrote. “The final stage of the recalls will include the replacement of batwing driver inflators that were previously installed as remedy parts in prior recalls.”

Related: Japanese auto manufacturer recalls nearly 34 million air bag inflators

Furthermore, Takata has “committed to cease producing these types of driver inflators” and is working to transition to newer versions that do not contain ammonium nitrate propellant.

“In closing, I want to emphasize that we have confidence in the inflators we are producing today,” Kennedy noted. “We believe that, properly manufactured and installed, these inflators will work as designed to save lives.”

Owners may need to have #Takata air bags replaced more than once: http://t.co/UIEh6jmL80 pic.twitter.com/7HGlhR7EKV

— Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) June 2, 2015

Takata Expresses ‘Regret’ on Capitol Hill Over Airbag Recall http://t.co/nz6UFtQml9 via @ABC

— Alex Mallin (@alex_mallin) June 2, 2015

Takata airbags: About 1.5 million recalls listed in Canada http://t.co/qaQ0cBFh0e #cbcto pic.twitter.com/zlmHadCa9O

— CBC Toronto (@CBCToronto) May 29, 2015