"Up until now Takata has refused to acknowledge that their airbags are defective," U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said at a press conference last week, according to Automotive News. "That changes today." While recent details have drawn more attention to Takata's defective airbags, this is actually a 7-year-old story. Dating to 2008, Takata's defective airbags are in nearly 34 million vehicles from 10 different automakers. The problem for automakers is the lack of a proven solution. Takata claims its new airbags, which will be swapped out in place of the defective airbags, aren't yet proven to be safe over the long term. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration believes the new airbags are at least safer than the old, and that forcing Takata to swap them at least takes the burden off automakers that otherwise would have been forced to replace 34 million vehicles-- which isn't a realistic option.