Takata Corp., the Japanese air-bag maker at the center of a global recall crisis, has been subpoenaed by a U.S. federal grand jury to explain the defects with its safety devices.
Takata has been ordered to turn over documents to the grand jury, Hitoshi Sano, the company's investor relations head, said in a phone interview. He said he didn't have more information, including when the subpoena was received.
Air bags made by the Japanese manufacturer have been linked to millions of recalls by 10 automakers including Honda Motor Co., which on Thursday announced a fatality in Malaysia, the first known death due to Takata's products outside of the U.S. In a statement, Takata Chairman Shigehisa Takada apologized "deeply" for the death of the driver in a statement posted on the company's website.
The company said it's cooperating fully with the recall, strengthening quality controls to prevent a repeat, and making the utmost efforts to restore trust in its products, according to the statement.
Takata has faced calls by U.S. senators for a criminal investigation into the company following a New York Times report that it tested air bag inflators in 2004 and discarded them without alerting regulators.
The company disputed that report Thursday, saying that it conducted the experiments in response to an unrelated air bag flaw and shared the findings with Honda and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.