Japan’s Daicel Corp has said it would boost production of air bag inflators to meet demand for the part at the heart of rival Takata’s quality problems, which have led to the recall of more than 20m vehicles.
A spokesman told Reuters Daicel would hire about 100 workers in Japan as it increases capacity at its factory in Hyogo prefecture, western Japan, likely around the middle of this year.
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Osaka-based Daicel would also consider adding production at its overseas factories, including in the United States, in anticipation of rising demand outside the replacement of Takata inflators.
The scale of the capacity expansion had yet to be decided and would depend on how many replacement inflators were needed.
With a 20% market share, Daicel is one of the world’s largest makers of air bag inflators, Reuters noted.
Automakers including Takata’s biggest customer, Honda, have approached Daicel and others to supply inflators as Takata struggles to make replacement parts fast enough. Sweden’s Autoliv has also said it will build additional inflator capacity to meet demand.
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