Deployed Takata airbag.
Honda Motor Co. Ltd., the biggest player left in the Takata air bag multidistrict litigation, weighed in Friday with a $605 million settlement offering compensation to 16.5 million current and former Honda and Acura owners and lessees of vehicles made since 2001.
Honda, which made the most recalled vehicles with Takata air bags, will be entitled to a 20 percent discount by offering a free rental or loaner car policy, bringing its total cash payout down to $484 million. The agreement comes “without any admission of liability or wrongdoing.”
The proposal filed with U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno in Miami comes with a program intended to accelerate the removal of defective air bag inflators, which generated the largest vehicle recall in U.S. history affecting nearly two dozen brands, plaintiffs attorneys said.
The settlement plan is similar to others previously announced with Toyota for $279 million, BMW for $131 million, Nissan for $98 million, Mazda for $76 million and Subaru for $68 million. Preliminary approval was granted for all but Nissan, and a final hearing on the first four is set for Oct. 25.
But Honda was in a precarious position because of potential testimony from a company engineer who was prepared to discuss a 1999 air bag inspection when an inflator ruptured. The engineer compared himself to Edward Snowden and called himself “a witness in the dark.” In July, a court-appointed special master recommended compelling the engineer’s testimony about a plot to hide decades-old reports.
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