Honda Motor Co. share price up, to expand US recalls because of Takata air bags

Honda Motor Co.s Executive Vice President for North America – Rick Schostek revealed that the company will expand its US campaign of driver-side air bag withdrawals manufactured by its supplier Takata Corp. The recalls will be expanded in all 50 states of the country, after the auto maker was put under significant pressure by federal regulators.

Mr. Schostek said in a statement, which was cited by the Wall Street Journal: “We believe our customers have concerns, and we want to satisfy our customers.”

According to the companys statement, Honda is also in talks with other air bag suppliers to replace the defective parts. The move comes after the demand by U.S. auto-safety regulatory authorities to expand the repair campaign was rejected by air-bags maker and supplier Takata.

Honda has also decided to turn to Autoliv Inc. for the supply of replacement parts and has been in talks with Japan-based Daicel Corp. for additional deliveries of parts to complete the campaign faster. The company has already initiated a voluntary nationwide recall in order to replace driver-side air bags.

The withdrawals are expected to help Honda gather more information about the condition of the defective air bags outside the high-humidity areas, where the problem initially arose.

The President of Honda – Takanobu Ito – had shared that air-bags supplier Takata must do everything possible to find out the reason for the problems with its products. President Ito also said that the Japanese supplier should boost its production capacity for replacement parts.

As reported by Bloomberg, Ito said at an event on November 25th: “I know they are working hard to supply the replacement. But I think the company must work harder.”

Honda Motor Co. Ltd rose 2.00% on Thursday in Tokyo to close at JPY3 725 per share, marking a one-year change of -11.94%. The company is valued at JPY6.57 trillion. According to the Financial Times, the 22 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Honda Motor Co. Ltd have a median target of JPY4 090, with a high estimate of JPY4 700 and a low estimate of JPY3 100. The median estimate represents a 11.99% increase from the previous close of JPY3 652.