Takata President Steps Down

Luke Vandezande
by Luke Vandezande
The Mexican and the Japanese national flags are seen outside the Takata plant, the world's second-largest supplier of airbags and seatbelts, in Monclova in this April 11, 2013 file photo. Manufacturing problems with Takata Corp air bags go beyond what the Tokyo-based company has disclosed to U.S. safety regulators about why the devices are at…

Takata Corp. announced today that Stefan Stocker is stepping down from his position as the company’s president.

The announcement follows recalls that are the result of defective airbag inflators that Takata supplied to several major automakers. So far there are five deaths officially associated with the defect, all in Honda vehicles. The defective inflators are at the root of 24 million recalled vehicles worldwide in 2014 including approximately 17 million in the U.S. The faulty airbags can explode with too much force and send shards of metal into the cabin. Stocker became the comapny’s first foreign president in June, 2013 shortly after joining the company. He will remain with the company as a board member.

CEO Shigehisa Takada, 48, will become the company’s president and will take a 50 percent pay but for four months, the company said in a statement. He will also continue to serve as the CEO ad chairman of the company. Stocker and three other executives will also take pay cuts for four months.

[Source: Automotive News]

Luke Vandezande
Luke Vandezande

Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.

More by Luke Vandezande

Comments
Join the conversation
Next