Takata's airbag issue is affecting the company in a major way, as Toyota and Nissan announced Friday that they will no long being using the firm as their airbag supplier.
Automakers have been attempting to distance themselves from the Japanese autoparts maker, whose airbags have been the subject to recalls of tens of millions of vehicles due to the ammonium nitrate propellant that can destabilize and cause the inflators to explode and send metal fragments into the vehicle, possibly injuring drivers, according to The New York Times. The issue has been linked to eight deaths and over 100 injuries.
Toyota and Nissan's announcements follow several days after Honda decided to drop Takata as its airbag supplier. Other Japanese automakers that revealed this week they are considering making a similar move include Mazda, Mitsubishi Motors and Fuji Heavy Industries.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that Takata will have to pay up to $200 million in fines and criticized the Tokyo-based company for being deceptive about the faulty airbags for a year, AFP reported.
Nissan spokesman Dion Corbett told Bloomberg on Saturday in a brief statement that the automaker will "continue to put our customers' safety first and work to replace the inflators in vehicles under recall as quickly as possible," The International Business Times noted.
"The inflator using ammonium nitrate produced by Takata will not be adopted by Toyota," Toyota President Akio Toyoda said in a brief statement Friday. "What's most important above anything else is the safety and peace of mind of customers."
Toyota, however, did say that it might still use Takata airbags that don't have parts associated with accidents, according to AFP.
Nissan and Toyota's decision will deal a major blow to Takata financially, which reported a six-month net loss of $46 million Friday due to increased costs from the airbag issue.
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