The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told Takata in a letter today to file a report by Dec. 2 that identifies a defect in "driver's side air bag inflators and is nationwide in scope." Failure to do so may lead NHTSA to force a recall and issue civil fines of $7,000 per violation.
The company last week had pushed back against calls by NHTSA to expand regional repair campaigns that primarily focused on 8 million cars in high-humidity U.S. states. Takata said recalling vehicles in other areas, where the risk of air bag malfunctions is lower, would aggravate a shortage of replacement parts and slow repairs.
"Takata has provided no justification for limiting the geographic scope to the high absolute humidity region," the head of NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, Frank Borris, said in the letter.
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