‘Carmakers may bear bulk of costs’
TOKYO: Carmakers may end up shouldering the bulk of the costs of replacing the estimated 100 million defective air bags made by Takata Corp after the company filed for the biggest postwar bankruptcy by a Japanese manufacturer.
Toyota Motor Corp, Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co on Monday issued separate statements saying they may not be reimbursed for the majority of their recall-related claims by Takata, which earlier filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States and Japan.
Seventeen vehicle makers, including BMW AG and Tesla Inc, were named as unsecured creditors with unknown claims related to recalls and indemnification, according to Takata’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which listed more than US$10 billion (RM42.9 billion) in liabilities.
Takata is unable to disclose the exact total of its liabilities as the company hasn’t reached an agreement on how to split the recall costs with the carmakers, said Nobuaki Kobayashi, a member of the steering committee, at a news conference on Monday.
Takata also announced an agreement on a sale to Key Safety Systems Inc for 175 billion yen (RM6.86 billion). The US air-bag maker owned by China’s Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp will substantially retain all of Takata’s employees worldwide and the acquisition of the businesses and bankruptcy proceedings are expected to be completed by the first quarter of next year.