I thank the distinguished chairman of the Finance Committee. I will be back at 5 o'clock to speak on behalf of our nominee for TSA, Admiral Neffenger. ____________________

At that point, last November, we had five deaths and dozens of injuries that were ties to the defective Takata airbags.

And now the same company responsible for this disaster is the one making nearly all of the replacement airbags for most of the recalled vehicles.

We strongly support the concept that they should be fixed before they are rented to a customer.

But I am trying to get at this. Hasn't Takata blamed the defective airbags on how your plants handled the ammonium nitrate propellants and how your plants assembled the inflators?

What about all these deaths in the South? Do you think humidity is one of the contributing factors?

Would you want your daughter to drive a vehicle with a Takata airbag that you had replaced the batwing ammonium nitrate?

Instead of the airbag saving lives, it is killing people.

So for everyone involved--NHTSA, to automakers, to the suppliers--we need to improve as fast as possible.

Do you have the Vehicle Identification Number for all of those?

The Takata airbag crisis is a serious issue that demands immediate action.

Danger Behind the Wheel: The Takata Airbag Crisis and How to Fix Our Broken Auto Recall Process