FCA Plans Big Shift from Takata to ZF TRW for Airbag Inflators

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is scheduled to tell a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday it will replace some 4.1 million driver-side Takata Corp. airbag inflators with units supplied by Livonia, Mich.-based ZF TRW Holdings Corp., The Detroit News reports.

Scott Kunselman, FCA's top vehicle safety and regulatory compliance officer in the U.S., is expected to describe the ZF TRW inflators as "an alternate and permanent design" to the replacement inflators offered by Takata.

Kunselman will say the Takata devices are "being quarantined and returned " to Takata, according to the News.

FCA's recall, which was announced at the end of May, includes about 50,000 inflators previously replaced with a new Takata unit. But last month the Japanese supplier said those replacements also could eventually misfire if triggered.