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Japan Bans Takata Airbag Inflators that Use Discredited Propellant
Japan’s transport ministry has declared a ban on the future use of airbag inflators that use ammonium nitrate as the propellant.
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Japan’s transport ministry has declared a ban on the future use of airbag inflators that use ammonium nitrate as the propellant.
The policy targets devices made by Takata Corp. that have been implicated in the recall of some 40 million vehicles by a dozen carmakers over the past six years. Takata’s inflators, which can degrade and then explode when triggered by a crash, have been blamed for eight fatalities and more than 100 injuries.
Japan’s ban is broader in scope but nearly identical in its elements to the one imposed last month by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Both decrees will ban inflators that use ammonium nitrate by 2018 and leave open the option of recalling such devices made between now and then if they are proven unreliable.
Takata’s customers are already abandoning the company’s design. Honda, which has been Takata’s biggest customer, was quickly joined last month by Mazda, Nissan and Toyota in declaring they are halting their use of Takata inflators.
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