Honda Drops Takata Airbag Inflators

Amid record fines and ongoing allegations against airbag supplier Takata Corp., Honda said Tuesday that it plans to end all global contracts with the supplier for front airbag inflators in any Honda or Acura vehicles in development, though current vehicles may still use them through the end of their generation.

Related: NHTSA Fines Takata Up to $200 Million, Recommends Ban on Ammonium Nitrate in Airbags

Honda spokesman Chris Martin said that applies to Takata airbag inflators, not the airbags in their entirety — or necessarily any other auto parts that Takata makes, like seat belts, steering wheels or even other parts of the airbag itself. Takata will continue to produce some of those parts for Honda, Martin said.

Still, the inflators are the focal point of a massive airbag recall that affects more than 19 million U.S. cars from the 2000 to 2015 model years. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday that it wants to halt all inflators that use ammonium nitrate, the chemical linked to airbag ruptures after long exposure to high heat and humidity.

Honda says it has already worked with alternate suppliers during the past year to secure replacement inflators for its recalled cars, which account for a large chunk of Takata recalls. Honda says it will be able to replace all recalled Takata airbag inflators exclusively with airbag inflators from other suppliers "in the foreseeable future."

Honda says it has enough replacement inflators to meet the current pace of owners responding to the recall, but it will continue to offer free loaner cars if there's a delay. The automaker says 41 percent of affected owners have had their cars fixed. That's much more than the 22.5 percent average across all affected models as of early October, according to NHTSA.

Honda says it became aware during the past few months of evidence that Takata may have "misrepresented and manipulated test data for certain airbag inflators." Calling the evidence "deeply troubling," the automaker says it turned the findings over to NHTSA but didn't make them public.