Ito spoke about Honda’s quality issues in the past year in an address to suppliers today and apologized for recalls and new product delays, said Akemi Ando, a spokeswoman for the automaker. He pledged to scrutinize development and asked for support from suppliers, Ando said.

The executive’s remarks come after Honda agreed to pay a record $70 million in fines and submit to stricter oversight for failing to tell the U.S. government about warranty claims and more than 1,700 injuries and deaths linked to potential defects in its cars. Ito led the company through a calamitous 2014 that saw deaths in Honda vehicles linked to Takata Corp.’s air bags and record recalls to fix separate flaws in some of its most crucial models.

Takata Chairman Shigehisa Takada, who was escorted into the hotel ballroom by Honda staff, said after the gathering that the company is making every effort to find the root cause of defects that caused air bags to deploy abnormally, spewing metal shards at passengers.