Carmakers Review Takata as Airbag Supplier

Several Japanese carmakers are re-evaluating their use of airbags supplied by Takata Corp. in the wake of some 12 million recalls to replace faulty inflators that could explode, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The series of recalls, which began five years ago, has so far involved 10 carmakers.

The Journal says Honda Motor Co. has begun buying some of its inflators from Japan's Daicel Corp. and is urging Takata to do the same. Daicel tells the newspaper it already supplies about 20% of the inflators Takata uses in its airbag systems.

Takata began making airbags in the 1980s at the suggestion of Honda, which owns a 1.2% stake in the supplier. The Journal reports that analysts say the inflators Takata makes in-house use a less costly but more volatile propellant that is sensitive to humidity.

Honda and Takata began investigating faults with Takata-made inflators in 2007 after receiving reports that four airbags ruptured during inflation. A two-year probe concluded the cause was a machine at Takata's inflator manufacturing facility in Moses Lake, Wash., that failed to compress the propellant powder sufficiently.

The investigation uncovered two other contributors to Takata's woes. Employees at Moses Lake had turned off a device that determined if the correct amount of propellant was used to fill each inflator. In Monclova, Mexico, workers didn't turn on a humidifier intended to keep inflator components dry.

Poor record-keeping and reporting made it difficult for Takata to accurately determine how many faulty inflators it made and where they ended up. The result has been a series of new or expanded recalls.