The Japanese manufacturer also agrees to sell operations to a U. S. producer of safety systems.
Takata, the Japanese air bag maker, announced Monday it is filing for bankruptcy protection in both Japan and the United States, after struggling for more than a decade to manage recalls related to its faulty products. Separately, it said its assets would be acquired by Key Safety Systems, an American producer of vehicle safety systems.
The Tokyo-based company rose to prominence in the early 1990s after creating a less-expensive type of air bag. But the safety devices relied on a faulty inflator that when activated can explode and send shrapnel into the vehicle. The airbags have since been linked to more than a dozen deaths and approximately 180 injuries in the United States alone, causing the recall of 42 million vehicles and up to 69 million air bag inflators.
In February, Takata pleaded guilty for falsifying testing data and reports provided to automakers. The company was fined $25 million, and ordered to set up restitution funds of $125 million for individual victims and $850 million for damages caused to automakers.
Takata is still in the process of replacing the recalled airbags, found in 34 types of U. S. vehicles, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the cost has been mounting.
