Another 60-65 Takata employees laid off this week

MOSES LAKE — The WorkSource Rapid Response team is hosting an event today to help an estimated 60 employees laid off this week at the Takata Moses Lake at its Randolph Road plant.

The recent layoffs come on the heels of a previous round of layoffs in January, where 60-65 employees at the plant which employees an estimated 350, bringing the total close to 120 people.

The WorkSource Center event at 309 E Fifth, Moses Lake on Friday is designed to gain important information about Unemployment Benefits, retraining options, schooling/college, supportive services that may be available with the layoffs. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information call (509) 766-6300.

According to a December report from the Associated Press, Honda reported the 20th death from a person hit by an exploding Takata airbag inflater. The death occurred July 10 in Baton Rouge, La.

Honda was Takata’s largest customer and urged consumers via door-to-door visits and on Facebook to get their cars repaired, according to the AP.

In addition to the Moses Lake facility, Takata has U.S. plants in San Antonio, Texas; Armada and Pontiac, Mich.; affiliated facilities in Cheraw, S.C., and Kernersville, N.C.; and a sales office in the Columbus, Ohio, suburb of Dublin.

In 2013, Tokyo-based Takata announced that a number of the devices it created to inflate automobile airbags could malfunction, injuring or killing drivers and passengers.

“Approximately 34 million vehicles are currently under recall for approximately 46 million defective Takata air bags that can explode when the air bag deploys, causing serious injury or even death,” says the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Takata airbag recall website.

— Staff report