TRW Automotive will start making airbags in Brazil in the first half of 2009 following a R$15m investment in initial production capacity of 120,000 units a year, local newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported on Wednesday.
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TRW already makes seat belts, steering wheels, brake systems and engine parts in Brazil, local news agency Agência Estado noted.
TRW reportedly hasn’t decided which of its plants will house the airbag assembly line – Limeira in the state of São Paulo or Lavras in Minas Gerais.
The report said TRW had planned to start production late in 2008 but revised plans because of negotiations with customers. The only imported component will be the gas generator that blows the bag.
Last year, 25% of cars produced in Brazil were equipped with airbags and that rate is expected to rise slightly to 26% in 2008 and to 33% by 2012, according to makers’ estimates, Agência Estado said. In the US, Japan and western Europe, the safety item is present in 100% of new cars.
Only Takata and Autoliv, in the São Paulo state cities of Jundiaí and Taubaté respectively, make airbags in Brazil, with more than half of the components imported.
Takata will produce an estimated 700,000 units in 2008, a 45% increase over last year. The company has a capacity of 1m units a year, and will invest R$4m in modernisation and new products. Autoliv assembles around 150,000 airbags a year.
Agência Estado said that, last week, Brazil’s lower house judiciary committee approved a bill that makes it mandatory for carmakers to install front-seat airbags in all new cars. The bill still has to be voted before being submitted for presidential sanctioning.
