Takata is considering booking a quarterly charge of JPY2-3bn (US$19-$28m) to cover the cost of additional recalls of vehicles fitted with potentially defective airbags, two sources have said.
The additional charge – on top of JPY75bn previously set aside for airbag recalls – would cover the projected cost of recent recalls announced by Nissan Motor, Honda and Toyota, anonymous sources with knowledge of Takata’s financial projections told the Reuters news agency.
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The charge would likely be booked in Takata’s results for the first half of this current fiscal year which ends 31 March 2015, they said. Takata is due to report [second quarter] results on 6 November.
The additional charge would represent a partial reckoning for a global auto safety recall that began in 2008 and has included more than 16m vehicles, the news agency reported. Specifically, the charge would represent the projected cost to Takata in response to recalls of a total of about 570,000 vehicles announced recently to fix defective airbags.
Last week, Nissan said it was recalling 260,000 vehicles globally due to defective airbags while Toyota also said this month it was recalling 247,000 cars to fix Takata airbags. Honda on 26 August said it was recalling about 63,200 vehicles.
Takata previously announced a charge of around JPY45bn in the April-June quarter to deal with airbag recalls. In the fiscal year to 31 March 2013, the supplier booked a JPY30bn charge and posted a record JPY21.1bnnet loss after carmakers recalled 4m vehicles for defects in its air bags that leave them at risk of exploding with dangerous force in an accident, Reuters noted.
Takata said in July it was studying the impact of the JPY45bn special loss on its full-year forecast.
US safety regulators reportedky are investigating whether Takata airbag inflators made in 2000-07 were improperly sealed or subject to another defect.
The probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has focused on inflators recovered from cars being recalled for repairs in hot and humid places like Florida.
Takata is cooperating with that investigation along with 10 automakers, Reuters said.
