Takata CEO Isn’t Stepping Down
The CEO of Takata Corp., the Japanese airbag manufacturer whose company has been tainted by constant safety recall crisis, will not resign any time soon.
According to people close to the company, the company had planned to tell automaker customers that the group’s founder’s grandson Takada would step down and hold himself accountable for the recalls.
On person said plans are in the works for management reforms, which included the resigning of Takada and several executives. According to these sources, Takata had not made a formal decision on the company’s future and nobody has been chosen to take over.
However, Takata said it made no mention that Takada would resign and doesn’t have any intention of doing so. It did confirm the meeting for its automaker customers but nothing else followed those talks. The company did apologize to its investors and customers about the recalls’ uncertainties and inconveniences.
Pressure has mounted on the company for close to two years on its defective air bags that explode with excessive force and causes shrapnel to fly around the car. It’s a big problem that’s affected millions and millions of cars. On Jan. 26, an 11th death was potentially linked to the company’s air bag.
According to sources close to the matter, at the Takata meeting, the company is set to lay out plans to give replacement air bag parts to customers. It’s also going to work with Daicel Corp to create air bag inflators.
Honda Motor Executive Vice President Tetsuo Iwamura would attend the meeting but didn’t mention anything about the upcoming talks. Honda has suffered the hardest from the air bag crisis.
Takata Corp. may be under even more immense pressure from Fraunhofer Institute, a Germany-based company, as the company is looking at the causes behind the air bag inflator failures. Japanese media have said the Takata-commissioned findings are set to be released in the next few weeks.
Fraunhofer wouldn’t make a comment about the matter.
Partial inquiry results released in June 2015 noted that air bag explosions were the result from improperly assembled or damaged inflators. Or, it was also possibly due to the chemical compound ammonium nitrate when it hits moisture.
Takata noted there were no clear root reasons for the air bag failures.
If Takata is found accountable in the final report, the company could pay more than $3 billion. It may also lead to company carmakers to stop working with Takata.
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