(Bloomberg) -- Takata Corp. President Shigehisa Takada made his first public apology for the eight deaths and hundreds of injuries related to the company’s air bags dating back more than a decade.
Takada, 49, bowed and apologized at a press briefing in Tokyo after the company’s annual shareholders meeting Thursday. He said the auto-parts maker is considering ways to help victims, including by setting up a fund to compensate them.
“I apologize for not having been able to communicate directly earlier, and also apologize for people who died or were injured,” Takada said. “I feel sorry our products hurt customers, despite the fact that we are a supplier of safety products.”
The grandson of the Japanese company’s founder spoke hours after Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., two of Takata’s biggest customers, recalled another 3 million vehicles with air bags produced by the supplier. All fatalities related to Takata air bags, which can deploy too forcefully and shoot shrapnel at vehicle occupants, have occurred in Honda Motor Co. cars, and the devices have injured more than 100.
Takata will continue to use ammonium nitrate as the propellant that inflates its air bags through a chemical reaction, Senior Vice President Hiroshi Shimizu said. The company has produced more than 200 million inflators that use the material, cited by at least one automaker as a cause for safety concern.
Ammonium Nitrate
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said this week it is switching suppliers to replace driver-side air bag inflators made by Takata in more than 4 million recalled vehicles. The decision was related to choosing a safe chemical propellant instead of Takata’s ammonium nitrate, Scott Kunselman, FCA’s head of vehicle safety for North America, said Tuesday during a Senate hearing in Washington.
Takata, carmakers and regulators are still investigating the root cause behind why the company’s air bag inflators are rupturing and shattering metal and plastic parts. The company has said it believes replacement air-bag components it’s making are safe.
Some shareholders who attended the meeting criticized Takata’s handling of the crisis. Masahiro Yamazaki, 46, from Yamanashi prefecture, said the company’s president was unable to say when its investigation will be resolved.
“Takada said this is going to drag on as the root cause hasn’t been found,” said Yamazaki, who invested in Takata last year and owns 100 shares. “Honestly, I’m worried they will go under, and they did nothing to ease my concern today.”
Root Cause
Takada said at the press conference that he didn’t know how long it will take for the company to discover the root cause for the defects. He has previously apologized in written statements and print advertisements in U.S. newspapers.
Takata has fallen 38 percent in Tokyo trading in the last 12 months, while Japan’s benchmark Topix index gained 33%. Takada and his mother, Akiko, own about 5% of the Tokyo-based company’s shares. Another 52% is owned by TKJ KK, an investment firm that lists the family as board members.
The air-bag maker faced pressure earlier this week from U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal to set up a victims’ compensation fund, similar to what General Motors Co. established for people killed or injured due to faulty ignition switches in 2.56 million recalled cars. Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, called for the company to respond to his request within two weeks.
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