Japanese vehicle safety equipment supplier Takata is investigating excessive moisture as a possible cause of its defective airbag inflators. The moisture angle to Takata's airbag problems was provided by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which announced an investigation earlier this month in six incidents of airbag rupture that had occurred in high-humidity states of Florida and Puerto Rico.
IHS Automotive perspective | |
Significance | The moisture angle to Takata's airbag problems was provided by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which announced an investigation earlier this month in six incidents of airbag rupture that had occurred in high-humidity states of Florida and Puerto Rico. |
Implications | Takata appears to have taken the NHTSA's moisture clue seriously as Honda, Nissan and Mazda join compatriot Toyota in expanding last year's recall owing to potentially insufficient repairs of defective airbag inflators. |
Outlook | With the global automotive industry undergoing a heightened scrutiny of potential safety flaws, more recalls of cars featuring Takata's airbags could well be on the cards. The recalls, which have been a significant financial burden for Takata, are likely to benefit two of its main rivals - Sweden's Autoliv and US supplier TRW - as well as some tier II inflator manufacturers. |
Japanese supplier of vehicle safety equipment Takata is investigating excessive moisture as a possible cause of defective airbag inflators, according to an Automotive News report. The potentially defective airbag inflators were used in vehicles produced from model year 2002 through 2006 by Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda and Chrysler. Takata indicated moisture on the road as well as at the factory can degrade the inflators. A report from Reuters in January indicated that the moisture can cause the propellant to crumble and burn too quickly when ignited, also causing the inflator to explode. Reuters reported that in two separate incidents in 2009, two motorists were killed by metal shrapnel. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced an investigation on 11 June, but in the six incidents the safety agency is investigating, there were no serious injuries. However, all the six incidents being probed by the NHTSA had occurred in Florida and Puerto Rico, prompting the US regulatory agency to suggest that the high absolute humidity climate in the two US states may have played a role in the ruptures. Takata's chief executive Shigehisa Takada has now echoed NHTSA's suspicions, saying “We currently believe the high levels of absolute humidity in those states are important factors, and as a result our engineers are analyzing the impact that humidity may have on the potential for an inflator malfunction.” Takata has said that it is supporting customers with detailed technical analysis and replacement parts, saying “Our joint objective is to do all that is possible to ensure the safety and well-being of drivers and passengers.” Kikko Takai, a Takata spokesperson said: “We take it seriously and will strengthen our quality control to prevent a repeat of the issue.”
Honda, Nissan, Mazda expand recalls
In a separate development, Honda, Nissan and Mazda today (23 June) decided to expand their recall of vehicles featuring airbags supplied by Takata, reports Bloomberg News. Honda announced a recall covering 2.03 million vehicles worldwide, including the Fit compact and CR-V sport utility vehicle (SUV), over airbag flaws related to inadequate pressure and excess moisture during their production, according to Akemi Ando, a Honda spokesperson. Nissan spokesperson Chris Keeffe confirmed that the automaker will recall about 755,000 of its cars globally over the same issue. Mazda, meanwhile, announced it is recalling 159,807 of its vehicles globally to fix their airbags, according to company spokesperson Takashi Goto.
Outlook and implications
Takata, whose defective airbags led to a recall of more than 3 million vehicles last year, earlier this month notified its customers that issues with its airbags remain and defects may need to be fixed again, prompting Toyota to issue an immediate recall of 2.27 million vehicles globally, including 650,000 in Japan (see World: 12 June 2014: Takata tells automakers airbags may need further repairs, NHTSA opens investigation – report). Takata said at the time it had kept inadequate quality-control records, making it difficult to identify vehicles with potentially defective airbag inflators that were made between September 2001 and September 2002 at a plant in Mexico.
Honda, Takata's biggest customer, has been worst affected by the issue, having called back nearly 6 million vehicles in nine recalls since 2008, according to the automaker. Fresh recalls from Honda, Nissan, and Mazda have apparently come after Japan's Transport Ministry earlier this month ordered the three automakers to decide as soon as possible whether they needed to issue more recalls over potentially faulty airbags made by Takata (see Japan: 13 June 2014: Japanese Transport Ministry wants automakers to make quick decision on airbag-related recalls).
With the global automotive industry undergoing a heightened scrutiny of potential safety flaws, more recalls of cars featuring Takata's airbags could well be on the cards. The recalls have been a significant burden for Takata, which took a USD307 million write-off last year. The recalls are likely to benefit two of Takata's main rivals - Sweden's Autoliv and US supplier TRW - or may be even some tier II inflator manufacturers such as Daicel Safety Systems of Japan, which has reportedly been supplying General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler since 2005.