Takata’s Quarterly Profit Surges as Airbag Recalls Rise

Takata Corp. reports its net income in October-December 2015 jumped to 8.1 billion yen ($69 million) from 2.8 billion yen a year earlier. Revenue grew 10% to 184 billion yen ($1.6 billion).

The company, whose flawed airbag inflators are being replaced in roughly 40 million vehicles worldwide, says it spent about 11 million yen ($90 million) on recall-related expenses in April-December. The 12 carmakers conducting the recalls—many of whom have declared they will no longer use Takata inflators—have booked several times that amount.

Last November the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fined Takata a record $200 million for misleading regulators and customers about defects that could cause the company’s inflators to explode. The defect has been blamed for 10 fatalities and more than 130 injuries.

Takata is preparing a plan to restructure itself in the wake of a scathing independent report on its lack of rigorous quality monitoring and control procedures. The company hopes to reach agreement with its customers by the end of May about sharing the cost of repairs, according to Bloomberg News.