Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 22, 1995 TAG: 9505230058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: DETROIT LENGTH: Medium
Federal safety officials and automakers plan to announce Tuesday what could be the largest auto recall in history to repair defective front-seat belts in millions of cars, mini-vans and sport utility vehicles, people close to the negotiations said Sunday.
The seat belts are in vehicles sold from late 1985 to 1991 by 11 Japanese and American auto companies, and the federal government is negotiating recall agreements with all of them.
Not all the companies are planning to join in the announcement Tuesday, but the ones that are expected to join account for about 90 percent of the 8.8 million vehicles that have the potentially defective belts. Plans for the recall were first reported Sunday in The Detroit News.
The recall, which will not cost consumers, follows months of investigation by federal officials into the seat belts, made by Takata Corp., a Japanese company. Investigators have found that, over time, the plastic release button in the belts can grow brittle and chip, preventing the buckle from locking securely. The buttons seem to be vulnerable to ultraviolet light and to deteriorate in a matter of years.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has recorded 539 consumer complaints and 47 injuries because of the seat belt problem, but no deaths.
Most of the seat belts were installed in vehicles made by Honda and Nissan, and the Honda Accord and Nissan Pathfinder are two of the most popular vehicles expected to be included in the recall.
But the seat belts were also installed in vehicles sold during model years 1986 through 1991 by the Big Three automakers, as well as Daihatsu, Isuzu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Suzuki.
It is difficult to gauge the cost of the recall, or how the costs might be born by the various companies. But some estimates put the cost of each repair at more than $100, meaning the total could be well over $1 billion.
In terms of number of vehicles, the largest previous recall was of 6.7 million Chevrolets sold from 1965 to 1969, said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a consumer group founded by Ralph Nader. The cars had defective engine mounts, he said.
The breadth of the recall testifies to the extent to which Japanese auto companies, in a practice increasingly imitated by the Big Three, rely on a single source to supply a given part.
Government and company officials declined to comment on the recall Sunday, other than to say the investigation was continuing with full cooperation from the companies. John Bailey, a spokesman for Takata's North American subsidiary, Takata Inc., said, ``We continue to cooperate with NHTSA, and we will continue to do so throughout this situation.''
by CNB