Japanese car part manufacturer Takata has pleaded guilty to fraud and been sentenced to pay US$1 billion in penalties over its defective airbag inflators, linked to the deaths of at least 15 people, the US Department of Justice announced yesterday.

The admission of guilt came after lawyers representing victims of the defective airbag inflators alleged that car manufacturers Toyota, Ford, Honda, and Nissan knowingly purchased them from Takata, despite being aware of their defects.

Takata carried out a scheme to defraud customers and manufacturers by providing false and manipulated airbag inflator test data to make their performance appear better, according to a statement from the Justice Department.

“Even after the inflators began to experience repeated problems in the field - including ruptures causing injuries and deaths - Takata executives continued to withhold the true and accurate inflator test information from their customers,” the statement added.

Earlier yesterday, class action lawyers representing victims submitted documents to a Miami court alleging that the four carmakers had purchased the inflators despite being aware of their defects to save money.

According to the filing, an airbag from Takata was described as a “killing weapon” by one of the manufacturers as early as 2009.

“The automotive defendants also were aware that rupture after rupture, both during testing and in the field, confirmed how dangerous and defective Takata’s airbags were,” lawyers said in the filing.

Takata’s defective airbag inflators have forced carmakers to recall tens of millions of vehicles worldwide.

Its faulty airbags can potentially rupture explosively when deployed in a collision, spraying metal fragments at drivers as well as passengers.

At least 15 deaths and more than 150 injuries have been linked to the defect worldwide, Takata admitted in June.

- dpa