Shigehisa Takada, the third-generation head of Takata Corp., shows little sense of the crisis engulfing the Japanese airbag maker at the center of one of the auto industry's biggest safety recalls, according to three people who have met him recently.Just days before a Nov. 21 U.S. congressional hearing on defective Takata airbags that have been linked to at least five deaths, Takada told business associates he was personally dealing with the quality issues, and the company had identified and fixed the main cause of the defect -- which he said was mainly a flawed manufacturing process, the people said.
He told them that Takata had significantly improved its airbag propellant chemistry for bags it is using to replace defective ones, and the company now just has to step up and replace all suspect airbags as quickly as possible.
"He acts like this recall is going to blow by in due time and harbors little sense of crisis," said one of the associates, none of whom wanted to be named given the sensitive nature of their comments.
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