Japan embarks on a drive to stall air bag crisis

Japan’s auto recall enforcement division, whose 16 members work from a cramped office on the eighth floor of the transport ministry building in Tokyo, only found out about safety issues with Takata Corp air bags in late 2008, more than three years after the company says it first learned of problems.

The ministry, which doubles as Japan’s safety regulator, then took a largely passive approach to the crisis unfolding in the United States — Takata’s biggest market where more than 10 million cars have since been recalled — rubber-stamping recall filings by automakers after incidents reported abroad.