Takata Corp. is struggling to get ahead of its airbag recall crisis, with the latest full-year financial forecasts failing to take into account the U.S. regulator ordering a near-doubling in number of devices to be replaced.The embattled Japanese supplier chalked up its latest forecast -- for a 13 billion yen ($121 million) annual loss for the year ended in March -- to charges it’s booking for recall costs and settlements with consumers injured by its rupture-prone airbags. Those 20.1 billion yen in provisions were announced days before a U.S. regulator’s order that may add 35 million to 40 million devices to the recall list.
Also unaccounted for are the demands Takata may face from automakers that have shouldered most of the financial burden of the biggest safety crisis in the industry’s history. Mazda Motor Corp. -- one of the relatively smaller carmakers affected by the airbag recalls -- booked twice as big a charge as Takata last fiscal year. The supplier also still faces class-action lawsuits in the U.S. for which it’s been unable to estimate the financial toll.
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