Takata Files For Bankruptcy In Japan And The US

Embattled Japanese airbag supplier Takata has officially filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan and the United States.

The company, which supplied VW with airbags, said Monday it would sell off the majority of its key assets to Key Safety Systems Inc. of Lansing, Michigan. The company paid $1.59 billion for nearly all of Takata’s global assets, save for some of the operations related to its defective airbags.

Takata’s airbags were the subject of the largest automotive recall in U.S. history. In 2013, the company issued a recall for vehicles equipped with airbags that used ammonium nitrate in the inflation process. The company said the airbags may explode with too much force, sending shrapnel into the cabin and potentially injuring vehicle occupants. At least 16 deaths and 180 injuries worldwide were linked to the faulty airbags.

The supplier made matters worse when it was discovered it had purposely withheld information in regards to the recall and altered airbag test data. It pleaded guilty to federal wiretapping charges in February and agreed to pay a $1 billion fine. A federal grand jury also indicted three Takata executives for their role in the scandal in January.

With Key Safety Systems now in charge, the airbag recall will be held by a reorganized Takata, the American supplier said. Components needed to fix affected vehicles will continue to be produced through to 2020, at which point Takata’s operations will begin to wind down entirely. In a press conference Monday, CEO Shigehisa Takada said it was necessary to enter bankruptcy protection to ensure it had the cash on hand to handle the recall.

“If things are left as is, we are aware of risks that we may not able to raise fund and to continue stable supply of products,” he said. “In light of the management environment we face, the state of negotiations with the sponsor candidate and carmakers, and the external expert committee’s opinion, we have decided today to file for bankruptcy protection.”

[Source: Automotive News]

This article first appeared on AutoGuide

The post Takata Files For Bankruptcy In Japan And The US appeared first on VWVortex.

from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2sdVvny
via IFTTT

Comments

2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review

“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words, spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster. My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out family-friendly SUVs. Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engag...

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier. The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow. While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something . To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it. Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait. So with this in mind, we lined our G...

Project Golf SportWagen- Intro

I’ve never really been one for SUVs and crossovers. The current offerings aren’t the body-on-frame, go-anywhere specialty tools I remember from my youth, and what they lack in capability, they also lack in on-road performance. The current crop isn’t terribly good at handling or being efficient, which in my opinion are major components of our ideal driving experience. So when it comes to space or utility, I usually look for something of the wagon variety- and it seems that I’m not alone. We hit quite a few shows around the east coast each summer, and we see modified Jetta SportWagens at nearly every event. Even amongst common consumers, these cars are highly sought-after. They don’t depreciate much, making even early Mk 5 2.5 versions expensive in comparison to other Jettas or Golfs of the same vintage. This year, Volkswagen launched their latest SportWagen, which is now billed as a Golf. In many ways, this latest SportWagen is the best yet and it has certai...

Vorderman Volkswagen

Search This Blog