TOKYO—Takata Corp. shares on Monday hit their lowest level since 2009 after U.S. regulators said recalls involving Takata-made air bags would expand by around five million vehicles, triggering concern over wider recall costs.

Takata is meeting auto makers this week and they are likely to discuss its financial condition, including how to split recall-related costs that could climb into the billions of dollars, two people briefed on the matter said.

Honda Motor Co. plans to attend a meeting on Friday during which Takata will describe its business plans, Honda spokesman Ben Nakamura said, declining to give further details. Takata said in a statement Monday it hasn't made a decision on whether to seek financial aid from auto makers.

Takata shares were trading down about 10% in afternoon trading in Tokyo. Takata's intraday low of ¥ 579 ($4.89) a share was the lowest level since March 2009, and the company's market capitalization has fallen to about ¥ 50 billion ($421 million).

Ten deaths world-wide are linked to the problem of Takata inflaters exploding with excess force. The latest action by U.S. regulators raised the number of vehicles recalled over the problem to more than 24 million in the U.S. Globally, more than 60 million vehicles have been recalled, Japan's transport ministry has said.

Despite the recalls, Takata has said it expects to post ¥ 5 billion in net profit in the year ending March. That is because many of the recall-related payments it is likely to make eventually aren't reflected on its financial statements.

Auto makers are currently shouldering the costs of recalling millions of vehicles, pending a resolution between those companies and Takata on how the burden should ultimately be split. The companies and Takata have said they would decide once they identify why the inflaters are prone to exploding incorrectly.

Three separate probes are looking into the root cause. One is led by Takata and a German research institute, the second by Honda, Takata's biggest customer, and the third by a consortium of auto makers that have recalled vehicles over Takata inflaters.

The inflater contains explosives inside a metal casing. It is designed to release gas to fill the air bag in the event of a crash. When the inflater explodes with too much force, it shoots out metal shards that put drivers and passengers at risk.

Analysts have estimated that Takata could face billions of dollars in recall-related charges. Takata is set to announce its latest quarterly results on Feb. 5. As of Sept. 30, Takata had ¥ 61.7 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

Rival inflater makers Daicel Corp. of Japan and Autoliv Inc. of Sweden have been producing some of the replacement inflaters in vehicles that were recalled. Takata said Monday it was in talks with Daicel over how the two companies could supply inflaters in a stable manner.

Kosaku Narioka contributed to this article.

Write to Yoko Kubota at yoko.kubota@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 25, 2016 00:35 ET (05:35 GMT)

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