Analysis Report: Airbags (Japanese Market)

For Airbags, read the (U.S. and European Markets) report here

  Airbags were first adopted in the U.S. in the 1970’s as a device to protect a vehicle’s occupants not wearing seatbelts while driving, and its installation later expanded from not only the driver’s seat, but to the passenger seat as well. In the 1990’s there were a number of instances where occupants suffered casualties due to the inflation of airbags in low-speed collisions, so it became necessary to mandate laws that require that the aggressiveness of the airbag deployment be lowered. Furthermore, the primary inflating agent used was initially sodium azide and toxic to humans (although inert after deployment), which necessitated switching to the use of non-toxic inflation agent alternatives such as guanidine nitrate.

  When used in combination with seatbelts, airbags serve as a vital component for increasing the safety of a vehicle’s occupants. As a result, they are now installed in virtually every vehicle model in all developed countries, including Japan, the U.S., and Europe. In addition, since July 2019, front seat airbags have been made mandatory on all passenger cars in India and are becoming compulsory equipment in countries other than the major advanced countries.

  Originally airbags were designed to protect in frontal collisions, but in the 1980’s systems for side collisions were also developed. Subsequently, more advanced systems such as curtain airbags are being employed to protect the heads of occupants and to prevent occupants from being thrown out of the vehicle in the event of a rollover. These days it is common for a vehicle to be equipped with at least 6 airbag units. Increasingly advanced systems are continuously being developed by automakers and suppliers, such as rear-seat side airbags, far side airbags, knee airbags to protect the lower limbs of front passengers, pop-up hoods, pedestrian airbags, and “air-belts” where the webbing of the seatbelt becomes a kind of airbag. Research is also progressing on rear seat airbags for frontal collisions and airbags that would inflate when advanced systems detect an imminent collision, protecting the entire vehicle.

  The top three suppliers in the global airbag market used to be Autoliv of Sweden, the former Takata of Japan (now, Joyson Safety Systems based in the U.S.), and U.S.-based ZF TRW Automotive (formerly, TRW Automotive of the U.S.). However, following the auto industry’s largest recall of Takata-made airbag inflators (using phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate) that began in the U.S., Takata filed for bankruptcy and restructuring. In April 2018, Takata (all Takata assets and businesses excluding those related to phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate air bag inflators) was acquired by the fifth largest airbag supplier in the U.S. market, Key Safety Systems (KSS), and renamed as Joyson Safety Systems. The acquisition of Takata by Joyson and other changes in the market have resulted in significant fluctuations worldwide regarding market share rankings.

  Also, for the Japanese market (the Japan-made models of the 8 finished car automakers, excluding the 4 major commercial vehicle manufacturers, and the commercial vehicle models of the 8 finished car OEMs) as covered in this report, Japanese automakers have already publicly announced that they “do not use inflators containing gas generant using ammonium nitrate for all new vehicles", so by now all new cars and all vehicle models originally equipped with the former Takata airbag module have by now been replaced by the products (inflators that use such as guanidine

  According to the 2019 survey conducted by MarkLines, the Japanese market for driver, passenger, and passenger side airbag modules consisted of five companies, including the top two global suppliers as described below: three Japanese companies and two non-Japanese companies (including the former Takata).

• Driver’s seat airbag:
• ①Toyota Gosei　② Autoliv
• Other key suppliers include Nihon Plast, Ashimori Industry, and Joyson Safety Systems
• Passenger airbag:
• ①Toyota Gosei ② Joyson Safety Systems
• Other key suppliers include Autoliv, Ashimori Industry, and Nihon Plast
• Side airbag:
• ①Toyota Gosei　② Autoliv
• Other key suppliers include Ashimori Industry, Joyson　Safety Systems, and Nihon Plast

  This report covers the five types of airbag modules (driver's seat, passenger seat, side, curtain, and knee airbags) that incorporate inflators, the product installation status of control ECUs, and in the company overview sections, the subject of inflators (gas generators).

  For Airbags, read the(European and US market) report here.

1) Global Business Overview

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

• The company was formed by the spin-off of the rubber research division of Toyota Motor Corporation. Afterwards, the company focused its efforts on automotive interior components, including safety systems, and today the company conducts business in two major segments: automotive components and optoelectronics.
• According to its 2025 business plan (medium- to long-term management plan), the company is positioning safety system products, mainly airbags, as a priority business, and is planning to increase its global airbag production capacity to 100 million units a year in 2023, approximately 1.6 times the FY2018 level.
• For the fiscal year ended March 2020, sales and profit declined due to the adverse impact of foreign exchange rates, U.S.-China trade friction, and a decrease in vehicle production due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic from the beginning of the year. In addition, the consolidated business forecast for the fiscal year ending in March 2021 is “undecided” because the future impact of the new coronavirus cannot be predicted.
• Safety system products accounted for 30.9% of consolidated sales for the fiscal year ending March 2020, up from 28.7% in the previous year.
• Toyota Gosei is the market leader in Japan with respect to the three airbag modules that are equipped on almost all vehicles as standard, the driver seat, passenger seat, and side airbag modules.
• In addition to driver seat, passenger seat, and side airbag modules, the company also manufactures curtain and knee airbag modules.
• The company is a key supplier to Toyota, Subaru, and Daihatsu, and deliver product to other Japanese automakers, except for Nissan (excluding OEM minicars).
• Regarding tie-ups with inflator suppliers, the company announced capital alliances with Daicel in May 2017 and in February 2018 with Nippon Kayaku, with each party holding JPY 1 billion in stock to strengthen their cooperative relationship in the airbag business. Furthermore, the company announced that its tie-up with Nippon Kayaku will strengthen its ability to ensure the stable supply of airbags and strengthen quality assurance through collaboration and personnel exchanges from the early stages of development.
• To satisfy Toyota's overseas production requirements, the company has secured manufacturing sites in Asia, North America, Eastern Europe and South Africa. The company has also shifted its cushion sewing operations to its sites in China and Southeast Asia to increase its cost competitiveness.
• With the installation of front seat airbags in passenger cars becoming compulsory in the Indian market from July 2019 onwards, the company began production at its fifth airbag plant in India in October 2018 in order to respond to the rapid increase in demand. Prior to this, in April 2018, Toyota Gosei established a development and design joint venture, Toyoda Gosei Minda India (TGMIN) Ltd. Gurgaon Office, near Maruti Suzuki India's headquarters in the suburbs of Delhi to strengthen its airbag development capabilities, and to further strengthen Toyoda Gosei's ability to manufacture interior and exterior parts. The company also announced in April 2020 that it would transfer all its shares in Toyoda Gosei South India Ltd. (TGSIN), which manufactures interior and exterior parts, to TGMIN during 2020 and reorganize its affiliate companies.
• The company announced that it will establish a new company, Toyoda Gosei Indonesia, which will be the site of its second manufacturing plant in Indonesia, in Karawang Prefecture, West Java Province, with production scheduled to begin in November 2020. The company will supply product to local automakers such as Toyota and Daihatsu. Toyota Gosei Indonesia is a joint venture with the major local parts supplier, Astra Auto Parts, with an 80% ownership by Toyoda Gosei and 20% by Astra Auto Parts.
• The Thai Binh plant of Toyoda Gosei Haiphong Ltd. (TGHP), its second manufacturing subsidiary in Vietnam, began operations in July 2019. The plant will produce airbag components and handles. With the start of operations at the new plant, the company plans to increase its annual production capacity in Vietnam to 4 million handles by 2023, about 1.7 times the fiscal year 2018 level. Construction of a new building at the plant is planned to expand the production capacity of cushions (bags) in Vietnam to 25 million units per year in fiscal 2023, which is about 1.5 times the fiscal 2018 level.

Nihon Plast Co., Ltd.

• Although not belonging to a keiretsu OEM family group, Nihon Plast is a major manufacturer of airbag inflators, and the fourth largest supplier of interior and exterior parts, with 5.15% of its shares held by Daicel (as of September 30, 2019).
• As of the fiscal year ended March 2020, sales and profit declined due to production cuts at clients in Japan and North America as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. spread of the new coronavirus. In addition, the full-year earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2021 is undecided due to the uncertainty surrounding the end of the new coronavirus crisis, and unclear factors such as the demands of governments and the production operation plans of its customers.
• The company’s product portfolio consists of safety parts including air bags, steering wheels, instrument panel parts, interior and exterior trims, and aerodynamic parts such as air spoilers. Its airbag operations account for 28.4% of its sales by product in FY2019.
• The company manufacturers steering wheels and various airbags such as driver, passenger, side, curtain, and knee airbags. Its main customers in the Japanese market are Nissan and Honda.
• In an effort to differentiate itself from its airbag modules competitors, the company launched a special department name the "Takumi-Kobo" (roughly translated as Master Craftsman Workshop) in 2015, which was instrumental in the company successfully developing and commercializing an airbag module with genuine leather used for the driver seat airbag cover.
• In January 2018, the company announced the establishment of a sub-subsidiary in Temascarsingo, Mexico, specializing in leather-wrapped steering wheels, with the aim of improving the price competitiveness of steering wheels in Mexico and North America and expanding production capacity in the region. As a result, Nihon Plast now has four manufacturing companies in Mexico.
• In December 2018, the company announced the establishment of a new manufacturing company in Binh Phuc Province, Vietnam, with the aim of improving its price competitiveness and expanding production capacity for steering wheels, airbag modules and interior and exterior plastic parts in Japan and the ASEAN region. The new company is the Nihon Plast’s third manufacturing company in the ASEAN region after Thailand and Indonesia.
• Including the above, the company has manufacturing sites in the U.S., Mexico, China, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, and supplies product mainly to the overseas vehicle assembly plants of Honda and Nissan. To reduce costs, in recent years the company has been promoting the in-house production of cushions in Indonesia, increasing the proportion of locally manufactured products in emerging countries such as Mexico and China, and transferring production from the U.S. to Mexico, which has lower costs. Going forward, in addition to improving its production system, the company will also review its product specifications.

Ashimori Industry Co., Ltd.

• The company's business consists of the automotive safety parts business (including airbags and seat belts) and the functional products business (including textiles and fabrics for high-performance materials, pipeline refurbishment, and firefighting hoses), with the automotive safety parts business accounting for about 69% of total sales. (fiscal year ending March 2019)
• In addition to seat belts, the company began developing airbags in 1986 and began production in 1989. In addition to airbags, the company's main products in the automotive safety components business include seat belts and interior components such as sunshades and tonneau covers. The company's main customers in the Japanese market are Mazda and Suzuki for safety components. For interior components, the company does business with all passenger car manufacturers.
• In April 2013, woolen textile giant Nikke increased its stake in Ashimori to over 15% and became the largest shareholder. As of September 30, 2019, its stake was 28.4%.
• To meet the procurement needs of the overseas assembly plants of its OEM customers, the company is expanding not only in Japan, but also overseas with the establishment of manufacturing sites in Thailand, China, India, Mexico, and Korea.
• In August 2018, the new Yamaguchi Plant (Plant No. 3) was completed, manufacturing seat belts, airbags and interior products.
• In July 2017, its local subsidiary in Mexico, Ashimori Industria de Mexico, established a second plant to manufacture seat belts, airbags and interior parts. Funding for building and equipping the plant were jointly financed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and private financial institutions for a contracted loan amount of up to MXN 213.5 million (approximately JPY 1,276 million). Furthermore, with the addition of the second plant, the production volume of its Mexican operations tripled on the order of some 76,000 safety system units monthly and 80,000 interior part pieces per month.
• In March 2016, Ashimori Korea Co. Ltd., its Korean subsidiary, completed construction its own new plant in Wonju city, Gangwon province and started manufacturing seat belts and airbags for customers such as SsangYong Motor.
• In June 2017, Ashimori Industry opened a European office in Baden-Württemberg, Germany for the purpose of gathering information on the needs of the European market and understanding development trends. In August 2019, the company announced that it would be making its European office a local subsidiary to further expand orders in Europe. 

  The following two companies are foreign-capital-affiliated suppliers of airbag modules, but they are briefly introduced in this report because of their significance in the Japanese market.

Autoliv

• Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Autoliv Inc. is the world's largest supplier of specialized safety systems with sales of USD 8.5476 billion (as of December 31, 2019) and 58,900 employees (as of December 31, 2019).
• Product lines are divided into airbag products, seat belt products, restraint control systems, active safety products, and brake control systems. Of these, airbag products are the most important, accounting for about 66% of the company’s overall sales (as of December 2019). The business had consisted of basically two divisions, one for passive safety including airbag products, and one for electronics, including airbag ECUs, that was spun off into a separate company as described below.
• In July 2018, Autoliv spun off its Electronics business into a separate company Veoneer Inc., into which it has invested approximately USD 1 billion in capital. Veoneer has become a supplier engaged in the development and manufacturing of technologies and solutions related to active safety, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous driving, and advanced brake control related sensors and software. The airbag ECU is considered a key airbag-related product and is captured separately in this report as being made by Veoneer, which was spun off from Autoliv.

Joyson Safety Systems (incl. former Takata)

• Former Japanese supplier Takata has a long-standing collaborative relationship with Honda in the development and manufacture of airbags for Honda vehicles, and has established itself as the world's third largest manufacturer of airbags and seat belts. However, following the auto industry’s largest recall due to rupturing of airbag inflators caused by the type of gas propellant being used, over time and mainly in hot and humid areas, Takata was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under U.S. bankruptcy law to allow it to remain solvent while it reorganized.
• In April 2018, with the exception of the former Takata’s airbag inflator business using phase stabilized ammonium nitrate, the acquisition was completed for substantially all of the global assets of Japan-based Takata Corporation by Joyson Safety System of the U.S. (formerly Key Safety Systems Inc.). When the transfer of assets had been finalized, Takata established TKJP Co., Ltd., a settlement company, which has been engaged in handling the recalls and the disposal of the airbag inflators. Japanese automakers have already publicly announced that they “do not use inflators containing ammonium nitrate for all new vehicles", so by now all new cars and all vehicle models originally equipped with the former Takata airbag module have by now been replaced by the products (inflators that use guanidine nitrate) of other companies.
• In April 2018, Key Safety Systems Inc. (KSS), a subsidiary of China's Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corporation (Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corporation), was renamed after the acquisition of virtually all the former Takata Group's global assets and businesses. The name of the merged company was changed to Joyson Safety Systems and its headquarters was moved to Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Manufacturing and R&D sites:

Note: Only the manufacturing sites for airbags and related parts have been listed.

Airbag Control ECU Manufacturers:

Denso/DensoTen

• Headquartered in Aichi Prefecture, Denso Corporation is one of the world's leading suppliers with the competitive strength of supplying electronic components to the Toyota Group.
• Denso is taking the lead in supplying airbag control ECU to Toyota, because although Toyoda Gosei is part of the Toyota Group it does not manufacture ECUs. Also, Denso has demonstrated its product superiority with its supply of product to Honda and Suzuki.
• Denso increased its stake in Fujitsu Ten to become its largest shareholder, making it one of its group companies for in-vehicle communication devices and control equipment, and changed the company’s name in 2017 from Fujitsu Ten to DensoTen. DensoTen airbag control ECUs are installed in some Toyota models.
• In April 2019, Toyota Motor’s Hirose plant transferred the production of electronic components to Denso. From 2022 onwards, Denso will consolidate its production and development functions for electronic components. Among these, airbag control ECU currently manufactured by Toyota will be included.

Marelli (formerly Calsonic Kansei)

• The company was a key supplier in the area of air conditioning, exhaust, interior and electronic components to the former Nissan keiretsu OEM family group and headquartered in Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture. However, in March 2017 a tender offer by U.S. asset management company Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) was finalized and the company became a subsidiary of CK Holdings, a special purpose company owned by an investment fund under the umbrella of KKR.
• The holding company, CK Holdings, completed the acquisition of Magnetti Marelli S.p.A. from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in May 2019. The merged holding company became Magnetti Marelli CK Holdings Ltd.
• As of October 1, 2019, the company's name was changed from Calsonic Kansei Co., Ltd. to Marelli S.p.A. Magnetti Marelli S.p.A. will become "Marelli Europe S.p.A.".
• The company produces various ECUs for Nissan, but for airbag ECUs Marelli trails behinds Bosch of Germany in the supply of product to Nissan. Currently, Marelli continues to maintain airbag ECU in the Japanese market for some Nissan and Mitsubishi models.

Mitsubishi Electric

• The company is one Japan’s leading electronics manufacturers, as well as a supplier with a long history in the field of electrical and electronic components for automotive applications.
• The company’s airbag ECU business in the Japanese market consists of product supplied to Mazda and Suzuki.

Keihin

• Keihin is the largest parts supplier to Honda, manufacturing a wide range of automotive components for 4-wheel as well as 2-wheel vehicle applications.
• As far as airbag-related products are concerned, Keihin manufactures control ECUs and sensors. Also, Keihin manufactures airbag ECU only for Honda.
• In October 2019, Honda and Hitachi, Ltd. announced that they decided to merge the operations of Hitachi Automotive Systems (AMS), Keihin, Showa and Nissin Kogyo, and signed a basic agreement for the management integration with the six companies as parties to the agreement. Subject to the approval of the relevant authorities in each country, Hitachi AMS will become the final surviving company after the merger, and Keihin, Showa and Nissin Kogyo will become the extinct companies. The merged company products will be branded as "Hitachi / HITACHI" and the existing products will continue to use the pre-merger brand for the time being. The new company will be 66.6% owned by Hitachi, Ltd. and 33.4% by Honda.

Bosch

• Headquartered in Germany, Bosch is the world's largest supplier of automotive parts and has a long history of doing business in the Japanese market.
• With regard to airbag ECUs in the Japanese market, Bosch has a strong position at Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, but it also supplies airbag ECUs to Mazda, Daihatsu, Subaru, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, making it the leading non-Japanese supplier of airbag ECUs in Japan.

ZF-TRW Automotive

• The former TRW Automotive of the U.S. was acquired by ZF of Germany, but its headquarters is currently located in Livonia, Michigan and the company is expanding business worldwide as ZF-TRW Automotive.
• Regarding airbag ECUs in the Japanese market, ZF-TRW supplies product to Honda and Mitsubishi Motors.

Other overseas ECU suppliers:

• Visteon: As the former Components division of Ford, it still has business with Mazda.
• Continental: Products equipped on some models for Suzuki.
• Veoneer: The Electronics division of Autoliv was spun off to form Veoneer, which supplies product for some of Nissan's models.

Related Component Suppliers:

Inflator:

Daicel Corporation

• Daicel is a major chemical manufacturer, which is engaged in inflators at its MSD Division. In 1989, the company began manufacturing inflators for frontal collisions and in 1998 started producing hybrid inflators for frontal collisions. In 2000, it started manufacturing dual pyro inflators for side collisions, and in 2001 dual pyro inflators for frontal collisions. In 2002, it started the production of stored gas inflators for curtain airbags. In 2012, Daicel acquired Special Devices Inc. of the U.S. to strengthen its production capacity for initiators and PGGs (seatbelt pretensioner gas generators).
• Daicel Safety Systems Korea, Inc. was established in South Korea as part of the company's global expansion of its airbag inflator business and began manufacturing inflators in February 2013.
• In response to the Takata airbag problem, Daicel established a second manufacturing site for inflators in Mesa City, Arizona, USA in 2015, and it established a new production line for inflator replacement parts that went into production in fiscal 2015.
• In May 2017, Daicel announced that it partnered with Toyoda Gosei through the crossholding of shares holding and technical collaboration.

Nippon Kayaku

• Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd. is a major chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturer. The Safety Systems Division is responsible for inflators and has been manufacturing and supplying inflators since 1994.
• In February 2013, the company established Kayaku Safety Systems Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. in Malaysia as Nippon Kayaku's first site in Southeast Asia.
• The company has strengthened its global footprint in Japan, the Czech Republic, Mexico, China, and Malaysia as well as strengthened is global supply system for automotive safety components.
• In February 2018, the company announced that it had agreed to a capital alliance with Toyoda Gosei for closer cooperation in their airbag business. Each company will hold JPY 1 billion of each other’s common stock. In addition, the companies announced that it will be targeting to achieve a stable supply of airbags and enhance quality assurance systems through the cooperation in the early stages of development and the exchange of personnel.

Airbag cushion (bag):

Sumisho Airbag Systems Co., Ltd.

• A Sumitomo Corporation-affiliated company established in 2004 and based in Matsuura City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Sumisho Airbag Systems specializes in the production of curtain airbag cushions. The company receives nylon 66 yarn from Asahi Kasei and weaves and supplies cushions to module suppliers such as Autoliv and ZF TRW. Sumitomo Corporation owns 64.7% of the company, Suminoe Textile 33.3%, and Asahi Kasei 2%.
• The company has OPW (One-Piece-Woven) or jacquard weaving technology that does not require sewing and is one-dimensional. There are 6 OPW (One-Piece-Woven) manufacturers in the world, but Sumisho Airbag Systems is the only one based in Japan. OPW is characterized by its excellent airtightness and long expansion retention time since the cushions are made without sewing. A production method that uses a special machine called a jacquard weaving machine to weave in a single process from the input of yarn to the fabric that encloses the cushion.

Seirin

• Seiren Co., Ltd. is a major player in automotive seating materials but entered the airbag cushion market in 1990. The company sews and produces cushions at its three manufacturing sites in Japan, China, and Thailand, and supplies them globally to module suppliers such as Autoliv and Nihon Plast. Although the company's production capacity is not disclosed, it likely exceeds 10 million units per year.
• In addition to driver, passenger, side, and curtain airbag cushions, the company has recently begun manufacturing knee airbags and rear seat airbag cushions. It is also currently developing bonnet airbag cushions for pedestrian protection.
• Replacing the Suzhou plant, which was its only airbag cushion plant in China, the company opened and started operations at a new cushion plant in China's Hebei Province in 2018. As a result, its global production capacity increased by 10%. The Suzhou plant moved its cushion production division to the new plant when it was constructed.

Toyota Boshoku

• Toyota Boshoku Corporation produces airbag cushions as part of its textile business. The company produces curtain-shield airbag cushions (bag bodies) and assembles curtain airbags at its plants in Thailand and its Haiphong plant in Vietnam.　

Tokokosen

• In 2003, Tokokosen Corporation established Kosen Fibertech (Thailand) Co., Ltd, in Chonburi Province, Thailand, to process automotive parts. Fibertech sews airbag cushions and processes weather strips.
• Tokokosen and Unitika Ltd. jointly developed technology to recycle the scraps of cushioning material generated in the process of making airbags for automobiles, and are developing their business of recycling mainly automobile parts. Scraps are collected at the Thai plant and processed at Unitika's plant in Thailand. Scrap materials are collected from equipment used at the Tokokosen plant in Thailand, as well as procured from the Unitaka plant in Vietnam. There are two types of airbag base cloths, depending on the part of the fabric: plain cloth made of nylon 66 (plain cloth) and composite cloth, in which the surface of the nylon cloth is coated with silicone (composite cloths). The technology developed by the two companies separates the composite cloth into nylon and silicone components for recycling.
• The major shareholders of Tokokosen are Yokohama Rubber (13.20%) and Bridgestone (10.22%).

Cushion base fabric:

Toyobo

• Toyobo Co., Ltd. entered the airbag business in 1993 when it acquired the technology for uncoated base fabric from Akzo of the Netherlands at that time. The uncoated fabric, which is less expensive than the coated fabric it used until then, has solidified the company's position in the domestic Japan market.
• Fundamentally, the company is engaged in the integrated production of airbag cushion fabric from yarn to base fabric. Toyobo manufactures nylon 66 yarn in Japan and weaves and sells airbag fabrics in Japan and Thailand, and at one point accounted for 40% of the world's supply of nylon yarn for airbag cushions. However, in September 2018, a fire at its plant in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture, its only domestic yarn plant, destroyed its yarn production facility. The company is trying to rebuild the plant while receiving supplies of yarn from PHP (Germany) and other companies in which it has invested. The company is building a new plant that will be located in Thailand instead of Tsuruga, Japan, and the company is expected to start operations at the Thailand plant in the spring of 2021.
• In China and the U.S., Toyobo procures raw yarn from PHP's local plants to weave and sell base fabrics. In December 2018, PHP acquired UTT Technische Textilien GmbH, a German airbag base fabric manufacturer, and it acquired UTT's base fabric weaving plants in Germany and Mexico, strengthening its global supply system.
• Toyobo is the world's largest manufacturer of cushion fabrics with a 14% share of the market, aiming for more than a 20% market share in 2022 and 30% in the future.
• At present, the company has made no announcements that it plans to enter the cushion sewing business, but it will be interesting to see if it will follow its competitors Toray and the Asahi Kasei/Teijin alliance, and enter the sewing business.

Toray

• Toray Industries Inc. has been expanding its airbag business on a global scale since 2003. Currently it has three manufacturing sites for airbag yarn in Japan, Thailand and Mexico. And it has six manufacturing sites for nylon 66 base fabric in Japan, Thailand, China, Czech Republic, India and Mexico. The company's strength lies in its integrated production of nylon 66 yarn and base fabric, as well as its manufacturing and sales systems that enable the timely supply of the consistent quality base fabric from all of its sites.
• In August 2019, Toray announced the acquisition of Alva Sweden AB, a Swedish cushion sewing manufacturer, and its subsidiaries Alva Confecções S.A. (Portugal) and Alva Tunisia SA (Tunisia).
• The aim of entering the sewing business was to establish an integrated business from yarn to sewing to be able to capture the latest airbag development trends and customer needs in a timely manner, and at the same time, to utilize Alva's sewing expertise in the design of base fabrics. Furthermore, the company aims to expand its sewing business by establishing sewing plants next to its weaving plants around the world. By strengthening these businesses, Toray aims to become the world's leading manufacturer of airbag fabrics.

Asahi Kasei/Teijin

• Asahi Kasei Corporation and Teijin Ltd. are engaged in developing their alliance business in which Teijin Frontier, a Teijin Group company, weaves nylon yarns supplied by Asahi Kasei into a base fabric. This alliance is the last Japanese company to enter the base fabric business. In addition to Teijin Frontier, Asahi Kasei also supplies yarn to Sumisho Airbag Systems, which in 2019 entered the sewing business in Vietnam.
• Airbag-related businesses of the Asahi Kasei/Teijin alliance:
• Yarn: Asahi Kasei manufactures and sells in Nobeoka, Japan
• Base fabric: Teijin Frontier weaves, manufactures and sells in Japan and Nantong, China
• Sewing: Asahi Kasei Advance Vietnam Co., Ltd. manufactures and has started selling

Business development activities of the two companies are as follows:

Asahi Kasei:

• Although Asahi Kasei has been concentrating on the manufacture and sale of yarn, in December 2019, Asahi Kasei Advance Co., Ltd., a member of the Asahi Kasei Group, established a new company in Vietnam, Asahi Kasei Advance Vietnam Co., Ltd, to enter the airbag sewing business. The new company aims to expand the airbag-related business of the Asahi Kasei Group and to utilize its sewing know-how in the design and development of new airbags going forward by having direct contact with module manufacturers. In Vietnam, Asahi Kasei plans to increase its annual production capacity to 2.5 million airbags in FY2010 and to 5 million airbags within in a few years after that. The company’s capacity to sew airbags is expected to be insufficient in the near future, so the company is targeting to increase its annual production capacity to 15 million units in the future.
• In addition, there is no more room to expand the facilities at its Nobeoka plant in Japan, and the company is also considering producing nylon yarn in Vietnam by 2022.

Teijin:

• Teijin procures nylon 66 yarn from Asahi Kasei and weaves the base fabric in Hokuriku, Japan and Nantong, China. In Japan, the company manufactures coated fabric, and in China manufactures 50% coated and 50% uncoated fabric. At present, the company's only overseas manufacturing site is in China, but it is considering production in Vietnam or Indonesia in anticipation of rising demand.

2) Chart of Ownership/Investment

◎: Top Supplier, ○: Supplier, (○): Former supplier
D: Driver Airbag, P: Passenger Airbag, S: Side airbag, C: Curtain airbag, K: Knee airbag, E: ECU

◎: Top Supplier, ○: Supplier, (○): Former supplier
D: Driver Airbag, P: Passenger Airbag, S: Side airbag, C: Curtain airbag, K: Knee airbag, E: ECU

Based on MarkLines data

Trends in the Japanese market by airbag type

• Side airbags and curtain airbags, which used to be equipped only on the luxury cars of some automakers, are now adopted by all automakers, depending on the model grade.
• As for knee airbags, they are currently not available on the production models of Nissan, Daihatsu, and Suzuki. (excl. OEM consignment models)

Toyoda Gosei

• The company is a Toyota Group supplier of plastic and rubber products, primarily for interior trim materials and airbags.
• It has a very high share of all airbag modules sold to Toyota, Subaru, Suzuki, and Daihatsu.
• Sourcing ranks by component (ranked by share of business) are as follows:
• Driver airbags: Toyota, Subaru, Suzuki, and Daihatsu
• Passenger airbags: Toyota, Subaru, and Daihatsu
• Side airbags: Toyota, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and Daihatsu
• Curtain airbags: Toyota, Honda, Subaru, and Daihatsu
• Knee airbags: Toyota and Subaru

Nihon Plast

• Manufactures products such as airbags, steering wheels, and interior and exterior plastic parts.
• Generally speaking, the company has a high market share of airbag modules for Nissan, and a large share of the market of driver airbags for Honda, partly due to Honda's previous investment in the company. Some Suzuki models are equipped with the its modules.

Ashimori Industry

• Manufactures airbags, and seatbelts, and interior and exterior plastic parts.
• As far as airbag modules are concerned, Ashimori supplies a high percentage of driver and passenger airbag to Suzuki, and a high percentage of side airbag and curtain airbag to Mazda.

Autoliv

• The world’s largest supplier of airbag, importing product from its Japan subsidiary.
• The company also manufactures airbags in Japan.
• Autoliv is supplying product to 7 (out of 8) passenger car automakers in Japan, with the exception of Daihatsu (excluding OEM vehicles).
• Sourcing ranks by component (ranked by share of business) are as follows:
• Driver airbags: Mazda and Mitsubishi
• Passenger airbags: Nissan and Mitsubishi
• Side airbags: Nissan and Subaru
• Curtain airbags: Toyota and Mitsubishi
• Knee airbags: Autoliv doesn’t seem to be particularly strong at any one customer, but it is supplying product to Toyota, Honda, and Mitsubishi.

Joyson Safety Systems (previously Takata)

• The former Takata was a major supplier of safety components such as airbags, seatbelts and child seats. But, as a result of its inflator recall disaster, the company was forced into bankruptcy and restructuring, and the divestiture of most of its assets to Joyson Safety Systems. Going forward, the company is expected to focus on the execution of the business strategy of Joyson Safety Systems, the company that acquired the former Takata.
• The company has historically supplied much of its product to Honda, but it also supplies a significant quantity of passenger airbags to Mazda.

Toyota

Nissan

Honda

Mazda

SUBARU

Mitsubishi

Suzuki

Daihatsu

  As of the fiscal period ending March 2020, all three automakers posted lower revenues and profits YoY due to foreign exchange rates, trade friction between the U.S. and China, and a decline in auto production volumes due to the new coronavirus crisis since the beginning of the year.

Note: Only airbag and airbag related facilities listed.

<MarkLines Automotive Industry Portal>