Skip to main content

Japanese airbag giant Takata has filed for bankruptcy

Car Airbags Deployed
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Crisis-hit auto parts maker Takata has filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Japan.

The Japanese company’s reputation was ruined in a scandal involving an airbag design fault that caused it to explode with too much force. As many as 14 deaths have been linked to Takata-made airbags, with hundreds more injured.

Recommended Videos

Chinese-owned, Michigan-based Key Safety Systems has agreed to spend about $1.6 billion on acquiring the surviving parts of Takata’s business, which involves the production of other auto-related safety components such as seat belts.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

At the start of this year, the Tokyo-based company paid a $25 million fine in the U.S., as well as $125 million to those injured by the airbags, and $850 million to automakers that used them. However, the likes of Toyota and Honda said on Monday they were no longer certain of receiving further payments from the embattled company to cover recall costs, among other amounts owed.

Airbag safety

Following initial concerns raised by Honda as far back as 2004, Takata’s airbag-related woes intensified dramatically four years ago when several other Japanese vehicle manufacturers recalled more than three million cars to deal with the fault. Since then, more than 100 million airbags inside vehicles made by a total of 19 automakers have been recalled globally.

In the U.S. alone, more than 40 million vehicles built over many years are subject to recall, though as of May 26 less than 40 percent had had their airbags repaired. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has described the saga as “the largest and most complex safety recall in U.S. history.”

The airbag fault was linked to the ammonium nitrate explosive propellant in the inflators, which, it was discovered, can degrade over time. This meant that in some cases, when the airbag inflated, the propellant burned too quickly, causing it to explode with too much force. In such cases, metal shards burst through the airbag and into the vehicle interior, resulting in injury to the occupants or even death.

One such case involved 26-year-old Jewel Brangman, who was killed by a faulty Takata airbag in an accident in Los Angeles in 2014, while another incident, this time in Louisiana in 2015, saw Kylan Langlinais fatally wounded by flying airbag parts after it deployed when her car hit a utility pole.

Admission

Takata initially insisted its airbags were safe, but in 2015 it finally admitted that there was a serious issue with the design. Multiple automakers have launched lawsuits against the company, while many of those linked to victims have also taken Takata to court.

Commenting on Sunday’s news, Takata CEO Shigehisa Takada said that Key Safety Systems “is the ideal sponsor as we address the costs related to airbag inflator recalls, and an optimal partner to the company’s customers, suppliers, and employees.”

Jason Luo, president and CEO of Key Safety Systems, said, “Although Takata has been impacted by the global airbag recall, the underlying strength of its skilled employee base, geographic reach, and exceptional steering wheels, seat belts, and other safety products have not diminished.”

Takata started life in 1933, initially making parts for parachutes before expanding to seat belt production in the 1950s. Over time it became one of the world’s leading suppliers of airbags and seat belts, and could name just about every global automaker as a customer. But the last few years have seen its reputation ravaged, with this weekend’s news unlikely to surprise many in the industry.

If you have still not checked to see if your vehicle is affected by the recall, you can find out more by visiting the NHTSA’s website.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Digital Trends’ Top Tech of CES 2025 Awards
Top Tech of CES

Las Vegas is overrun. Every billboard in town is shouting about AI, hotel bar tops now sport a sea of laptops, and after hours The Strip is elbow to elbow with engineers toting yard-long beers.

That means CES, the year’s biggest tech bacchanalia, has come to town, and Digital Trends editors have spent the last four days frolicking among next year’s crop of incredible TVs, computers, tablets, and EVs. We’re in heaven.

Read more
Sony and Honda’s Afeela 1 EV makes more sense at CES than in the real world
Afeela 1 front quarter view.

The Sony car is almost here. After its creation via a joint venture with Honda in 2022 and two years’ worth of prototypes, the electronics giant’s Afeela brand is finally taking reservations for its first electric vehicle, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2026.

But will it be worth the wait? Coinciding with the opening of reservations, Sony Honda Mobility brought updated prototypes of the Afeela 1 (as it’s now officially known) to CES 2025, representing what California customers (Afeela is only taking reservations in that state) who put down a $200 refundable deposit can expect when they take delivery.

Read more
Bose wants to dominate car audio, and I heard its next-gen 3D automotive speakers
Bose logo on a speaker grille

Bose’s automotive audio business is huge, and it’s set to get even bigger. The company has been making big plays in car audio for some time now. The audio company works with premium brands like Porsche, building high-end speakers that allow drivers to experience high-quality audio on the road, whether they’re carting the family around in an Escalade or weaving around the highway (don’t do that) in a Porsche Macan.

But while it has a solid selection of audio brands under its belt, the world of personal audio is also evolving. Mercedes-Benz showed off its Dolby Atmos system at CES last year, and now, a year later, plenty of other brands are joining the trend. At CES 2025, Bose walked me through its current lineup of automotive audio products, as well as a sneak peek of what’s to come.
Immersive audio
The big trend in all areas of personal audio right now essentially boils down to supporting 3D audio formats like Dolby Atmos. Consumer home theater products are increasingly offering up-firing and side-firing speakers that can bounce audio around the room to simulate height and surround effects, while headphone brands are increasingly developing spatialized audio tech that can convert stereo audio into simulated spatial audio.

Read more