Tokyo (AFP) — Honda will expand its recall of cars fitted with Takata airbags worldwide, covering a total of 13 million vehicles, and could help the parts maker if it has financial difficulty, a report said Tuesday.
The automaker plans to widen its “investigative” recall to the entire world to determine what is wrong with airbags made by Takata, the Nikkei quoted Honda president Takanobu Ito as saying.
“If the same problem exists, we want to respond in the same way everywhere,” Ito said in a recent interview with Japan’s leading business paper, adding Honda cannot depend on Takata to find the cause.
Millions of vehicles produced by some of the world’s biggest automakers, including Honda, Toyota and General Motors, have already been recalled due to the risk their airbags could deploy with excessive explosive power, spraying potentially-fatal shrapnel.
Ito indicated that the automaker will step in should Takata find itself in financial trouble.
“If no one else helps, we will have to do something,” he reportedly said, noting that a business failure could result in an exodus of talent.
“If Takata becomes unable to supply air bags, not just Honda but all automakers will be in trouble. We will ensure Takata can keep supplying” them, Ito said.
