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 More than 21 million vehicles have been recalled globally by
numerous automakers since 2008 because of defective Takata Corp
<7312.T> inflators that could rupture and shoot metal shards into
the vehicle and have been linked to at least five deaths.
GM's plans include directing Takata to share with rivals TRW <TRW.N>
and Autoliv <ALV.N> the No. 1 U.S. automaker's air bag
specifications and data so any replacement parts made by others
would work in GM vehicles, GM spokesman James Cain told Reuters in
response to questions about the company's plans. This approach
secures future capacity if it is necessary, he said.
"Basically, we bought an insurance policy so that the capacity is
there if we need it," Cain said. "We don't want to be caught
short-handed.
"There is only so much inflator capacity in the industry and we need
to be prepared, so what we've done is prudent," he added.
While Takata has not determined what is causing the problems in its
air bags involved in recalls in U.S. regions of high humidity, the
company has said one factor is the aging of the inflators. That has
many automakers concerned that inflators of similar design in their
vehicles could face recall at a later date.
Takata said in a statement: “Takata cannot confirm or comment on
discussions with particular customers. As our chairman has stated,
Takata is increasing its production of replacement units and is
committed to working with its customers and other air bag
manufacturers to increase production capacity even further.”
Officials with Autoliv and TRW could not immediately be reached to
comment.
Takata said this month it would boost capacity to build replacement
inflators at its Monclova, Mexico, plant by almost a third in
January to 450,000 a month, but some automakers do not want to wait
for that to come through.
Takata's largest customer, Honda Motor Co <7267.T>, said this month
that it had signed a deal to have Autoliv begin making replacement
parts in about six months and the Japanese automaker also said it
had opened talks with inflator maker Daicel Corp. <4202.T>
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Analysts who follow the air bag industry have said the Japanese
safety equipment maker has seen some shift of future contracts to
rivals and any such move by GM, Takata's third-largest customer,
would hurt the supplier. Cain, however, declined to discuss the
automaker's future business.
BMW <BMWG.DE> last month disclosed that Takata would shift inflator
production for the German automaker's vehicles to the Japanese
firm's plant in Germany.
On Friday, Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn
told reporters at the company's Yokohama, Japan, headquarters it was
too soon to talk about future sourcing of air bags. He declined to
comment on Takata's response to the recall crisis.
GM has had no incidents related to the latest recalls in U.S.
regions of high humidity nor any indication that any vehicles are
affected other than the small number of Pontiac and Saab vehicles
already recalled, Cain said.
Any widening of the Takata recalls could potentially affect millions
of GM vehicles with Takata air bags, including the GMT 900 full-size
pickup trucks - the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra - and related
SUVs, the automaker said.
The GMT 900 trucks were launched in 2006 and GM built more than 6.5
million. GM switched over to redesigned versions of the pickup
starting in May 2013 and the SUV early this year.
(Additional reporting by Mari Saito in Yokohama, Japan)
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