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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Takata doubles recall of air bags

Industry struggles to keep up with demand for parts

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WASHINGTON — Prodded by the U.S. government, Takata agreed Wednesday to add up to 40 million air bag inflators to an already massive recall, raising questions about the auto industry’s ability to produce and distribute the necessary replacement parts.

The recall of inflators that can explode with too much force and hurt people was already the largest in U.S. history at 28.8 million. But Wednesday’s announcement could raise that number as high as 69 million, a staggering task that will strain overburdened manufacturers.

The expansion also entered Takata, automakers and the government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a race against time. The government said the inflators have to be replaced before they reach 6 years old, when the risk of rupture increases.

Even before Wednesday’s expansion, it would have taken until the end of 2017 for enough replacement parts to be manufactured, said Scott Upham, CEO of Valient Market Research in Philadelphia, which tracks air bag sales. He wasn’t sure how many more years would be needed.

Other inflator manufacturers such as TRW Automotive, Daicel and Autoliv, which already are making replacement inflators, have agreed to join Takata to produce even more, Upham said.

“They’re pitching in to the best of their ability, but even with their help, it’s going to be very difficult to really ramp up production to cover this,” he said.

Still, the government said, it will take until the end of 2019 to finish the recalls, fast enough to catch the suspect inflators before they can burst and spew shrapnel into drivers and passengers. At least 11 deaths and more than 100 injuries worldwide have been blamed on the Takata parts.

But two years after the big Takata recalls began, automakers have only replaced 28 percent of the recalled inflators due to a lack of replacement parts and difficulty in finding owners and persuading them to get cars repaired.

“We are absolutely not satisfied with the completion rates of the recalls already under way,” said Mark Rosekind, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, cautioning against moving too quickly. Inflators aren’t interchangeable and must be engineered to fit a specific vehicle, which takes time, he said.

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