Takata Corp has filed for bankruptcy protection in the biggest postwar Japanese corporate failure in manufacturing.
The 84-year-old company buckled under liabilities from millions of recalled safety air bags for automobiles and agreed to be sold to a Chinese-backed investor.
The Tokyo-based firm and its units filed for creditor protection in the United States and Japan.
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware listed more than US$10 billion (HK$77.8 million) in liabilities, including claims from automakers Honda Motor - the biggest user of its air bags - and Toyota Motor as well as individuals who brought class-action lawsuits.
The filing is the culmination of a saga that began with a recall more than eight years ago but has spiraled as the company's malfunctioning airbag inflators - which sent shards of metal flying at drivers and passengers - have been blamed for at least 17 deaths worldwide.
It also removes the final hurdle for the supplier to be acquired by Key Safety Systems, a unit of Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp founded by Wang Jianfeng, for 175 billion yen (HK$12.4 billion).
"We were facing a severe situation and weren't able to wait any longer," Takata chairman and chief executive Shigehisa Takada, 51, said in Tokyo yesterday. He will step down after handing over the company to its new management.
BLOOMBERG
