Recall-plagued airbag supplier Takata is likely to seek more capital around September as it expects its finances to be hit by a rise in the cost of recalling potentially defective airbag parts, media reports said on Tuesday.
According to Reuters, Kyodo News, without citing sources, said Takata was expected to short list companies to approach for investment and candidates would include top customer Honda Motor.
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A Takata spokesman declined to comment to Reuters and a Honda spokesman said the automaker had no plans to provide additional financial support to its supplier.
Over 50m airbags have been recalled worldwide to replace Takata's inflators which can explode with too much force and spray metal shards inside vehicles.
Takata would decide how much capital to raise after estimating the scale of the recall costs, Kyodo said.
Industry experts estimate Takata could face a recall bill of about US$3.5bn if it is found to be responsible for the defective airbags, more than double the company's current assets of about $1.3bn as of December, Reuters said.
The company has already been fined $70m by US transport authorities and also faces class action suits in the US where the majority of airbag-related injuries occurred.
Other suppliers including Autoliv, ZF-TRW and Daicel have increased production of replacement inflators.
