Toyota orders 13 million air-bag inflators from Takata rival Kayaku

Reuters reported that Toyota has asked Nippon Kayaku Co.to increase its production to supply about 13 million inflators in the future with a supply that will run from July 2016 to 2020.

Toyota, since then, has estimated the need for replacement over the next five years, anticipating that cars will age and require new airbags, hence the contract with Nippon Kayaku.

A second individual, who was briefed on the deal, confirmed the source’s report.

After last year’s mass recall of Takata airbags throughout the auto manufacturing industry, most vehicle companies are probably not going to think twice about pursuing other airbag makers.

Automakers have had to bear costs of the majority of recalls while overall root cause is being investigated.

Eight deaths are believed to have resulted from Takata air-bag inflators and more than 100 injuries after exploding with excessive force, spraying shrapnel inside vehicles.

US lawmakers have requested that all cars equipped with air-bags from Takata be recalled, and this could affect about 50 million cars already on US roads.

Meanwhile, Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co spokesman Itsuki Kurosu told Detroit News that Toyota’s affiliate will extend the production shutdown through August.

Takata said that exposure of a long period to high humidity and heat could make the air bags open with great force.

Toyota Motor Corp., recalling about 12 million vehicles worldwide to replace Takata Corp. airbags, said it may tap three additional suppliers to boost supply of the components.

Tokyo-based Nippon Kayaku could not immediately be reached for comment. Toyota told U.S. regulators last month that it expected suppliers other than Takata to provide about 23 percent of the replacement inflators needed to fix about 2.9 million vehicles the company is recalling in the country. Instead, it’s a move created to “maintain business and reduce risk”, Takaki Nakanishi, chief executive of Nakanishi Research Institute, was quoted by Reuters as saying. It is not clear however if Toyota would be cutting off all business deals with Takata but this is highly unlikely. But the shares for Takata and Toyota remain at their equilibrium.

The move does not mean Toyota will stop buying Takata inflators, one of the individuals said.

The increase in Nippon Kayaku’s facilities is to accommodate Toyota’s demands.

“It can certainly still survive as an airbag maker if it buys inflators from other companies”, he said.