Takata Recall: Honda Says No Fresh Lending For Japanese Airbag Maker

Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. reportedly said it was not considering lending fresh funds to Takata, the airbag maker, which currently faces a massive worldwide recall over faulty airbags.

"We are not considering joint lending [to Takata]," a Honda spokesman said Sunday, according to Reuters, following a report by Japan's Sankei newspaper that automakers were discussing fresh financial support for the supplier.

Takata's shares surged almost 17 percent during intraday trading Monday following the Sankei news report while Honda's shares fell about 5 percent in Tokyo.

Takata’s airbags have been at the center of one of the largest and most complex recalls in automotive history, with 11 manufactures recalling about 19 million vehicles in the U.S. alone. The airbags — which contained an ammonium nitrate propellant to inflate them — sometimes deployed with excessive force. The explosion would fracture the airbag casing and send shrapnel tearing through the vehicle, injuring the very passengers it was designed to protect. The airbags have so far been linked to eight deaths and 100 injuries in the U.S.

The embattled company also admitted that it had known of the defect as early as 2004, but continued to sell the product and misrepresented test data.

In November, U.S. transportation regulators fined Takata $70 million — the largest civil penalty in its history — for lapses in its airbags. A further fine of $130 million may be enforced on Takata if it fails to meet its recall commitments, regulators said.

Takata recorded a combined special loss of 17.2 billion yen ($140.29 million) for the April-September period in November. The company had cut down its forecast for full-year net income to 5 billion yen ($40.78 million) from 20 billion yen ($163.13 million), following the scandal.