TOKYO--Takata Corp. (7312.TO) CEO Shigehisa Takada said Friday
that the company is diligently working to identify the root cause
of why some of its air bags have exploded, a problem linked to five
deaths and more than 24 million vehicles recalled by 12 auto
makers.
"Our priority is to ensure safety so we will focus on carrying
that out," he told a small group of reporters at a Tokyo hotel
Friday, on the sidelines of an event hosted by Honda Motor Co.
(7267.TO) Mr. Takada declined to comment on how long it will take
for the company to fully identify the causes.
Asked whether he has taken any measures for ensuring that the
company has enough capital, he said: "That's an issue for us
executives to think about," without elaborating further.
Friday's comments by Mr. Takada, 48, were the first he has made
to a group of reporters since the air bag recalls escalated from
mid-2014.
While he has released written statements, to date he has not
held a news conference. He didn't answer a question asking whether
he would hold a news conference in the future.
Separately, an executive of Autoliv Inc. (AVL), Takata's rival
air bag and inflater maker, said the company is in talks with auto
makers besides Honda about possibly supplying replacement parts for
vehicles recalled over Takata air bag problems.
Sweden-based Autoliv is not ready to announce details yet, said
Bradley Murray, Autoliv Japan's president.
Honda, Takata's biggest customer, has said it is working with
Autoliv and Daicel Corp. (4202.TO), another air bag inflater maker,
to speed up replacement parts production in vehicles that have been
recalled.
Write to Yoko Kubota at yoko.kubota@wsj.com
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