Japan's Takata Corp. could face about $24 billion in costs to recall its airbag inflators in a worst case scenario, Bloomberg news reported, sending its shares tumbling to an all-time low.
A scenario involving the withdrawal of all airbag inflators made by Takata containing ammonium nitrate — the explosive chemical used in potentially faulty air bags at the centre of a global recall — would affect 287.5 million inflators, Bloomberg quoted a person familiar with the matter as saying.
The figure exceeds industry estimates that Takata could face a recall bill of more than $3.5 billion and dwarfs the company's current assets of about $1.3 billion as of December.
Shares in Takata plunged by their daily limit to give the struggling company a market value of just $302 million.
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