Detroit Company May Buy Takata’s Interiors Unit

The Piston Group, a Detroit-area auto parts assembler, is in talks to buy Irvin Automotive Products Inc., an interior components supplier owned by troubled airbag supplier Takata Inc., sources tell Crain’s Detroit Business.

Pontiac, Mich.-based Irvin Automotive makes arm rests, seat trim and cargo shades. The acquisition would expand Piston Group’s annual revenue, which totaled $931 million in 2015, by about $500 million.

Piston Group was founded by Vinnie Johnson, a former basketball player for the Detroit Pistons. The company’s customers include Ford and Valeo. Irvin was founded by Leslie Irvin as a manufacturer of “air chutes” after he demonstrated their feasibility by making the world’s first free-fall parachute jump in 1919.

Takata has been looking for buyers for its non-core operations. The company is bracing for the financial impact of sharing in the cost of recalling some 100 million of its airbag inflators that could explode when triggered in a crash. The company also is looking for a major financial investor or new owner.