Takata is edging towards a settlement with federal prosecutors that could cost the airbag manufacturer $1 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the settlement will see Takata resolve allegations of criminal wrongdoing after the company’s airbags have been linked to a number of deaths and injuries for spewing metal shards through a vehicle’s cabin when deployed.
It is thought that Takata will plead guilty to criminal misconduct and that it’ll be slapped with a penalty in the high hundreds of millions of dollars and up to $1 billion. Part of that sum would be paid up front and the the rest over a number of years.
Among the focuses of the criminal probe revolves around Takata providing misleading testing reports to various manufacturers, including Honda. Additionally, the WSJ reports that prosecutors are considering charging the airbag company with wire fraud for making misleading statements and concealing information about its faulty products.
The Takata airbag scandal is the largest recall in automotive history, with 42 million vehicles recalled in the United States alone.
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