Tokyo, Japan - Replacing potentially lethal Takata airbags in a mass recall is more challenging and time-consuming than expected as rival parts suppliers struggle to make bag inflators that replicate the originals fitted by the Japanese firm.
The recalls so far cover tens of millions of cars made by more than a dozen automakers - and spanning some 170 model variants in the United States alone.
It's rare in a product recall to have alternative suppliers make the replacement parts. But the unprecedented scale of the Takata recalls, where defective air bags have been linked to 10 deaths, has prompted several automakers to source replacement inflators from Takata's rivals.
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The recalls highlight the interdependence between Takata, its rivals and automakers facing delays for replacement parts.
Valient Market Research CEO Scott Upham said: “Car companies are very reliant on Takata to produce replacement inflators and to cooperate with rival suppliers making Takata-designed components,” said
For now, Takata, which the Wall Street Journal reported has hired restructuring lawyers, remains integral to the process.
“In the short term, Takata will be kept afloat until all the replacement parts are produced,” Upham said.
For the ongoing recall, alternative suppliers including Autoliv, ZF-TRW and Daicel Corp have to develop replacement inflators from similar sized designs in their own product portfolios, and adapt them to Takata's original design to fit the air bag module - the casing containing the airbag.
Inflators, made of stainless steel or aluminium, are not a one-size-fits-all product. They come in basic disk or tubular shapes: 'hamburgers' for driver and front passenger seats, and 'hot dogs' for rear seats, according to an engineer at a major airbag supplier.
'Hamburger' inflators resemble burger cartons with pinched edges that can measure up to about 100mm on each side. The size, dimensions and the amount of propellant needed to activate the inflator can vary according to vehicle model.
The engineer, who didn't want to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media, explained: “We need to look at the space between the instrument panel and the steering wheel, and make sure we can fit in it.
“That's complicated because we're trying to fit into an existing space that Takata designed with its customer, and we may have to change our design to do this.”
SLOW PROGRESS
Takata said it has “dramatically increased” output of replacement inflators and is “working closely” with other inflator makers to supply replacement kits.
But it remains under pressure from automakers and regulators to speed up a recall that is now in its eighth year.
The range of recalled models means more inflator designs have to be modified, tested to calibrate their propellant force, and manufactured to fit each different model. In some cases these models date back as far as 2000, and parts makers have to re-tool to replicate obsolete designs.
“We're having to produce a similar inflator that performs the same way in the module as the original did,” said an executive at a major parts supplier, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. “We're having to take a development process that usually takes two to three years and speed it up to a matter of months.”
Thomas Jonsson, spokesman for Autoliv, the world's leading airbag supplier, said: “We're seeing our deliveries of up to 20 million inflators being dragged out longer than expected. Since we don't have products off the shelf that are identical to the original inflators, there's a design phase and a validation phase for each different product.”
A spokesman for Honda said its announcement in February that repairs on 2.2 million recalled air bags would begin in mid-2016 was indicative of the slow pace of procuring replacement parts.
INCREASED OUTPUT
Suppliers have boosted replacement inflator capacity since 2015 and should be producing about five million replacements a month by mid-2016 , according to Valient.
Honda said it was sourcing most replacement inflators from suppliers other than Takata, and Nissan said it was also securing some replacements from rival suppliers.
Toyota, which recalled 11.8 million airbags lin 2015 alone, says it switched to Daicel for about a quarter of the replacement inflators it needs, with Autoliv providing some others and Takata the remainder.
Reuters