Airbag door highlights the drawbacks of global procurement model

On May 21, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan, Fumihiko Ike, Chief Financial Officer of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC) held a press conference. Due to the hidden dangers of the fuel system and the electronic collision braking system, since the beginning of 2008, 36 million vehicles worldwide have been recalled because of Takada airbag problems.

In 2011, the global shortage of parts caused by the tsunami in Japan has caused global centralized procurement to be questioned. At that time, multinational corporations began to reflect on the drawbacks of global procurement and avoid the risks caused by the lack of alternatives. However, many car companies, in order to reduce costs, Still continue to adopt this kind of purchasing method to begin to surface from 2008, the Gaotian “airbag door” is in an escalating state. More than ten multinational car companies, including GM, Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Honda, Mitsubishi, and Subaru, have conducted large-scale recalls of airbag failures caused by Japanese auto parts giant Takada.

According to public information, Takata Airbags has so far caused a total of approximately 36 million vehicles to be recalled.

36 million vehicles are not yet the end. According to foreign media reports, the United States Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced on May 19 that Japanese auto parts giant Takada has admitted that the company’s approximately 33.8 million automotive airbags produced and sold in the United States have potential safety hazards. Agree to recall.

Previously, Toyota China issued a message on May 14 that Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. has filed a recall plan with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (hereinafter referred to as the AQSIQ) according to the requirements of the “Regulations on the Management of Defective Automobile Products Recall”. The decision was made to recall the Vios and Corolla vehicles produced from January 1, 2004 to March 31, 2007, totaling 302,705 vehicles, starting from June 12, 2015.

According to the recall information issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), about 1.05 million vehicles are involved in the recall of Takata airbag safety problems in China.

According to relevant agency forecasts, the scale of Takada's “airbag door” recall eventually exceeded Toyota’s “pedal door” and general “ignition switch door”, becoming the largest car recall incident in history.

Takada Airbag Latent 10 Years

The hidden danger of these airbags produced by Takata may be a violent explosion at the start-up, which may cause metal fragments of the inflator to splash into the passenger compartment, causing potential injuries such as death to passengers, but it is currently impossible to define.

Takata Airbag has passed through a number of automakers' safety monitoring systems and has buried safety hazards in more than 30 million vehicles worldwide for more than a decade. Even Toyota Motors, which is known as the world's most stringent quality regulator, has not been spared.

It is understood that Takada airbag problems can be traced back to 15 years ago. At the earliest in 2000, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States had received complaints from consumers, claiming that some models of Takata production airbags would generate debris when they started. It was not until 8 years later, in November 2008, that Honda recalled 4,000 cars for the first time due to airbag problems. Six months later, a young man died due to the explosion of an airbag. Honda later announced that it had recalled 510,000 vehicles.

With the rapid increase in the number of vehicles involved, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted two surveys on this issue in 2009 and 2014, and later in 2014 began requesting a number of automakers to conduct nationwide product recalls. .

At the end of 2014, China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine also issued risk warning notices for Takata airbag safety hazards.

As for the airbag problem, relevant person in charge of Takata (Shanghai) Auto Parts Manufacturing Co., Ltd. stated to the reporters in the Nomo Weekend Weekend, “About the issue of airbags, the company had previously explained that it was mainly responsible for the Japanese side. There is no any time in China. The official reply, again said that the airbag problem mainly appeared in foreign countries, China rarely involved, if you receive the relevant notice, I will contact you again."

Missing national standards

What is the reason that makes airbags insecure? It is understood that Takada and many car manufacturers have not yet clearly identified the root cause of airbag defects.

According to Wang Yinglai, a car expert, the structure of the airbag itself is very complicated. It is a product with a high degree of integration of fluids, chemicals, and gases, so it is very difficult to find the root cause of airbag defects.

"Because of the complexity of airbags, China has not yet evaluated the national standards for the presence of defects in car airbags." said Wang Ying.

According to Wang Yinglai, China introduced three recommended national standards concerning airbag components as early as April 2006. It only stipulates the test method for a single component, which belongs to the pre-assembly test standard rather than the entire safety standard. The airbag integrated system evaluation standard cannot be used as a basis for judging whether the airbag manufacturing quality is qualified or whether the airbag is matched with a specific vehicle, and it cannot be used as a basis for determining whether the airbag should be opened after the accident.

During the interview, the Legal Weekend Weekend reporter learned that at present, China's national standards for evaluating the existence of defects in car airbags have been missing, and even industry standards have not. The standards for airbags used by various automobile manufacturers are set by the manufacturers themselves.

“This is because the airbag technology belongs to the commercial secrets of foreign automakers. There is no mandatory standard for all countries in the world. In addition, the standard for different types and grades of vehicle airbags for the same brand is different,” Wang Yinglai further said.

Wang Yinglai analyzed the report to the Legal Weekend Weekend reporter: “In the case of an accident, if the airbag is not opened, it is unqualified if the airbag quality is unacceptable. Whether the airbag is opened depends on many factors, such as the relative speed and collision angle between the vehicle and the object being hit. The passenger's seating position, sitting position, and the hardness of the collision object, in reality, many cars drilled under the big truck, the airbags did not open." "Can not simply say that as long as the collision occurs, the airbag must be opened. Therefore can not be introduced to each detail The national standard for the opening of car airbags of a brand model,” said Wang Yinglai.

Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the National Passenger Vehicle Market Information Association, agrees. "The use of airbags in our country is relatively large, but the dominance of the standard is not in our hands. Therefore, it is also a painful thing to introduce standards." Even if there are such standards, the binding force is not very great, because manufacturers can sell vehicles around the world according to their own standards."

No standard leads to difficulties in rights protection

During the interview, the Legal Weekend reporter learned that due to the lack of standards, disputes between consumers and car manufacturers must prove that it is very difficult to prove the failure of airbags.

An industry insider who did not wish to be named told the reporter for the Rule of Law Weekend: “Because there is no standard, when consumers and car manufacturers have disputes, various manufacturers and 4S stores will have various arguments such as 'not enough speed for collision' and 'wrong angle of collision'. To shirk responsibility, even if consumers sue to the court, the court often cannot determine whether the product has quality defects due to the absence of standards, and consumers’ legitimate rights and interests cannot be effectively protected.”

It is understood that when the opinions of consumers and auto manufacturers are inconsistent, they can generally be resolved only by means of identification.

However, according to industry insiders who were unwilling to be named, there are not many relevant accreditation bodies in the country. Even if they are professional testing agencies for car safety, they are rarely willing to accept airbag sample quality inspections sent by individuals.

"More importantly, the technical standards and data for airbags are currently set by the individual manufacturers themselves. Even if they are identified, they need the manufacturers to provide technical parameters and appraisals. And some agencies are inextricably linked to the auto manufacturers. Contact.” The industry insider further stated.

Wang Yinglai, an automotive expert, stated that because there is no national standard, the current assessment criteria for some airbag accidents or product defects are mainly based on the instructions provided by airbag manufacturers and automobile OEMs, corporate standards, and expert assessments, on-site reproduction tests, etc. to judge.

“First, the cost of identification will be relatively high. In addition, because there is no national standard, and there is no appraisal report on authority, it is necessary for ordinary consumers who are in a weak position in the process of automobile rights protection to It is almost impossible for parties and auto makers to win lawsuits,” Wang Yinglai further explained.

Global procurement highlights the disadvantages

Car analyst Jia Xinguang believes that the Takada airbag incident is just a microcosm of parts recalls. Compared with global recall data, vehicles involved in China may not be too many, but from another point of view, this also shows that Global centralized procurement drawbacks.

“Because the car companies have limited energy, it is impossible to achieve the development of all their parts. Since the 90s of last century, in order to reduce costs and gain advantages in a highly competitive market, many car companies have adopted parts of the global centralized procurement of spare parts. The higher the volume, the lower the cost, but the centralized procurement also brings great risks, such as the Takada airbag incident, said Jia Xinguang.

It is reported that in 2011, the global shortage of parts caused by the tsunami in Japan has caused global centralized procurement to be questioned. At that time, multinational corporations began to reflect on the drawbacks of global procurement and avoid the risks arising from the lack of alternatives, but many car companies, in order to reduce The cost still continues to adopt this procurement method.

Wang Yinglai also believes that the Gaotian incident is a typical case in which parts manufacturers have been struggling to survive due to the cost reduction of parts and components by automakers in recent years.

“On the surface, it is a problem with Takata. It is actually the fact that automakers are squeezing parts and components manufacturers, leading parts manufacturers to cut corners and materials and causing recalls,” Wang Yinglai said.

Wang Yinglai told the reporter for the rule of law over the weekend: “In recent years, there has been a serious problem in China. Many auto manufacturers have continuously reduced their procurement costs and cut spare parts costs in order to increase their competitiveness. Parts manufacturers may cut corners in order to increase profits."

“There are two ways to reduce the cost of car manufacturers. First, design the product to reduce its product quality and replace it with lower-order materials. The second is to reduce the price of suppliers by car manufacturers. This may involve the problem of cutting corners. "Wang Yinglai further explained.

Wang Ying Lai believes that car companies should not pay close attention to costs when purchasing parts and components. They should also make efforts in product quality and product supervision.

Car prices cannot easily get rid of Takada

The fault incidents of Takada airbags have been going on for so many years. Why did the relevant carmaker not choose another airbag supplier and chose to continue cooperation with Takata?

In response, the Legal Weekend Weekly reporter called Toyota, Nissan and other companies, and its relevant person in charge said: "We haven't got the relevant information yet, so it's inconvenient to say more."

In Wang Yinglai’s view, Takata’s production is very large, accounting for a high proportion of the world’s total. If auto companies abandon their cooperation with Takada, causing Takada to suddenly fall, then Takada's space occupied by the world is that no component manufacturer can make up for it by increasing production capacity. More importantly, there are few airbag manufacturers, and Takada also controls the core technology of airbag production. The fall of Takada has a very serious impact on automakers.

Fu Zhiyong, founding partner and executive director of Rexroth Consulting, expressed his agreement. He told the Legal Weekend reporter: “Generally speaking, Japanese, American, and Korean car companies directly choose to cooperate with their domestic airbag suppliers. Replacement, the other one may not be able to keep up with the capacity and technical capabilities. From a strategic point of view, replacing the airbag supplier is not realistic and can only be improved."

Cui Dongshu also analyzed to the reporter for the Rule of Law Weekend: “From another perspective, this also reflects the responsible attitude of international car companies. Although this is Gaotian’s defect in design, if everyone has problems when Gaotian, everyone chooses. It is an irresponsible attitude to abandon it. From the perspective of car companies, they do not want to let a company fall because of one thing."

According to statistics, Honda was the most affected among the affected car companies, with a total recall of 19.6 million vehicles. Honda expects that Takada airbags may affect sales in the Japanese domestic market. They will replace components in Takata with airbag components from Swedish Autoliv, Japan’s Daicel Group, and Takata.

Recently, Honda introduced a new vehicle Shuttle in Japan. It advertised that the model is fuel-efficient, has a large space, and does not use Takata Airbags. Honda's senior general manager Sho Minekawa said that the model was replaced by the airbags of Takada's rival Daicel Corp. "In the past, we used a lot of Takata airbags, but models in the Japanese market are rarely used, and this is also the case. It will be a trend in recent years."

Industry insiders believe that although some automakers have turned to cooperating with other suppliers, these automakers still have to rely on Takada because other suppliers cannot provide completely matched replacement parts.