A logo of Takata Corp is seen through a car window outside the company's headquarter building in Tokyo. (Photo : Reuters)
Japanese auto parts supplier Takata's future is now in a state of disarray. Toyota Motors is the latest car manufacturer to declare that it will cease using Takata airbag inflators.
Toyota president Akio Toyoda made the announcement at a news conference citing that the company is prioritizing the safety and confidence of its customers. According to Reuters, Mr. Toyoda told the press, "Going forward, we will not use Takata airbag components that use ammonium nitrate."
Mr. Toyoda is referring to the propellants used by Takata in its inflaters. Car safety specialists said that the propellant has a huge possibility to destabilize and on some cases explode which will send metal fragments inside the vehicle. Eight deaths and more than 100 injuries have been linked to the defective Takata inflaters.
Mr. Toyoda added that they are willing to reconsider their business arrangement with Takata as long as they can confirm the safety of the latter's products.
Earlier this week, United States regulators reported that Takata's inflators used ammonium nitrate as propellant. The discovery prompted Mazda Motors and Honda Motors to pull out of Takata's client list and say that they will no longer fit Takata inflators in their new cars.
Following the pullout form Honda and Mazda, Takata's shares took a dive and fell 40 percent in this week alone. The company's shares have in total deteriorated by as much as 75 percent since the airbag scandal broke out in 2014.
According to The New York Times, the latest pullout from Toyota will deal a heavy blow to Takata who relies 40 percent of its sales on airbag its airbag products.
