by Steve Holland
The Transportation Department will conduct an internal review of U.S. auto safety regulators in response to a series of safety lapses, including this week’s reports of defective airbags, a senior administration official said on Saturday.
The defect in Takata Corp. airbags linked to four deaths in Honda cars opens the supplier to risk of losing business to rivals including Autoliv and Daicel in a crucial portion of the market for the safety devices.
The market for airbag inflators — the component at the root of deadly defects — is likely to shift away from Takata to suppliers including Autoliv and Daicel, potentially allowing the two suppliers to control more than half the market by 2020 as Takata’s share shrinks, said Scott Upham, an analyst who has followed airbags since they were first going into cars a quarter-century ago.
