Air bag maker Takata files for bankruptcy

(Image credit: Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images)

Takata, the Japanese air bag maker whose defective air bag inflators were responsible for at least 16 deaths and 180 injuries, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States and Japan.

The company said most of its assets will be purchased by a Michigan-based rival, Key Safety Systems. Numerous lawsuits were filed over Takata's faulty inflators, which would explode with too much force and send shrapnel flying, spurring the largest automotive recall in U.S. history.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.