Senate committee: Takata may have put profits before safety

Air bag maker Takata Corp may have put profits before safety, a U.S. Senate committee said in a report released on Monday.

The report by the committee on commerce, science and transportation was released the day before a Washington hearing on Takata's defective inflators, which are linked to more than 100 injuries and at least eight deaths globally because of air bags that deploy with too much force and spray metal shards at passengers.

"Internal emails obtained by the committee suggest that Takata may have prioritized profit over safety by halting global safety audits for financial reasons," the committee said in its report.

The committee said company emails indicate global safety audits were halted from 2009 to 2011 "due to financial reasons."

A spokesman for Takata could not immediately be reached to comment.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit. Editing by Andre Grenon)