Investigators are still hard at work, but they believe that they have found two more victims of the Takata airbag inflator defect. If these two deaths are linked to the defect, the total worldwide death count will rise to 13. Considering that hospitals are also reporting more Takata-related injuries every day, it’s little wonder that this defect has spawned the largest automotive recall in history. Now financial reports are saying that Takata Corp. will earn a profit this year, but how can this be?
Is Takata Really Going to Make a Profit This Year?
Takata Corp. reported that it earned $19.8 million from April to June. That’s a 33 percent decrease from the profits it made during the same time period last year. Despite this loss and the expansion of the gigantic airbag inflator recall, Takata is still projecting a $129 million profit for this fiscal year. But last year and the year before that, the company suffered losses. Do these numbers really add up?
Analysts think that Takata’s profits estimation might be just wishful thinking. The company’s profits were down from last year, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expanded the Takata recall to nearly 70 million vehicles. Automakers are paying for the recall at the moment, but many companies have already expressed their intent to bill Takata for the costs. Will this make turning a profit impossible for the embattled airbag manufacturer?
Right now, the Takata recall is the largest automotive recall in history, but half of America doesn’t even know it. Kelley Blue Book conducted a study that revealed that almost half of the survey’s participants didn’t know about the Takata recall. Considering that this recall affects at least one in eight U.S. automobiles, this could be a disaster. The parts manufacturer is already dealing with lawsuits from the victims of its defective airbags, and this discovery from Kelley Blue Book could mean that the company should expect many more.
Do you think Takata will really make a profit when the fiscal year ends in March? Do you think anything can be done to help spread the word about the Takata recall? How do you think the company should be held accountable? Check out our Takata recall page for more answers, and stay on top of this topic by following our blog, Twitter and Facebook.
This update on the Takata recall was brought to you by the Coral Gables personal injury attorneys at Colson Hicks Eidson.