Toyota says would consider Takata air bag inflators without controversial chemical
TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp won't abandon Takata Corp as a supplier of air bag inflators, the president of the Japanese carmaker said on Friday, helping shares of the scandal-hit auto parts maker pare some of their sharp losses.
Akio Toyoda told reporters the world's top-selling automaker would no longer use Takata's inflators containing ammonium nitrate - the volatile chemical at the centre of safety investigations - but said it would consider other Takata inflators as long as they were safe.
"Even if they're made by Takata, we intend to take an unbiased approach (for other inflators) as long as we can confirm their safety," he said at a news conference held to announce a new artificial intelligence research unit.
Takata's shares briefly turned positive after his comments, erasing a 15 percent plunge earlier in the day to their lowest since March 2009. They ended down 6.2 percent.
The stock has lost nearly 40 percent over the past three days as automakers snubbed Takata's inflators, following top customer Honda Motor Co's lead. Honda, which has a small stake in Takata, said it would drop ammonium nitrate inflators made by its long-time supplier for front-seat air bags.
Mazda Motor Corp on Thursday said it would drop all Takata inflators containing ammonium nitrate from its new cars. Subaru-maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd and Mitsubishi Motors Corp said they were considering doing the same.
Takata's inflators, which regulators said can explode with too much force and spray metal fragments inside cars, have led to the recall of tens of millions of vehicles worldwide. Regulators have linked them to eight deaths, all in Honda's cars.
Earlier this week, Takata said it would pay a $70 million fine imposed by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in instalments, and phase out the use of ammonium nitrate as a propellant in its inflators.
Takata is scheduled to report earnings after the market closes on Friday.
(Reporting by Hideyuki Sano, Chang-Ran Kim and Chris Gallagher; Writing by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Stephen Coates and Christopher Cushing)
