Amid Takata's Airbag Scandal, Toyota Seeks More Suppliers

The Takata airbag recall is the biggest to ever rock the auto industry. Now, Toyota, which was embroiled in its own massive recall a few years ago, appears to be hedging its bets with its longtime supplier.

Bloomberg reports that Toyota may ask three additional suppliers to produce airbag inflators for installation in its vehicles.

The news comes after Toyota told the U.S. government last month that it expected to use alternative suppliers for about 23 percent of the inflators it needs to repair vehicles in the U.S. It must fix about 2.9 million vehicles to comply with the federal recall.

Worldwide, Toyota must recall 12 million vehicles for defective Takata airbags. In all, the Takata airbag recalls affect nearly 34 million vehicles around the world.

Toyota spokeswoman Kayo Doi told Bloomberg that the company may use replacement airbag inflatorss from Autoliv Inc., Daicel Corp. and Nippon Kayaku Co. The replacement inflators would be in addition to those produced for it by Takata.

Reuters also reported that Toyota has asked Nippon Kayaku to increase production in order to supply 13 million inflators in the future. That supply would run from July 2016 through 2020, according to Reuters.

Toyota has told the U.S. government it will support the increased cost of the replacement parts production, Bloomberg said.

The Takata airbag recall is the largest in U.S. history, prompting a series of Congressional hearings.

Although it has been making replacement airbags, Takata still has not found the root cause for the problem. Its airbags explode with too much force, injuring and in some cases, killing occupants. At least eight deaths and more than 100 injuries have been attributed to the air bag inflator accidents.

The recall had affected 11 global car companies. But, the number may rise to 12.

Last month, Volkswagen told U.S. regulators about an accident that took place in June involving one of its vehicles. It was the first VW involved in the Takata airbag situation, the first time a side airbag had exploded, and the first involving a newer Takata airbag, according to the Associated Press.

The 2015 Tiguan also would be the most recent vehicle affected by the defect. Previously, the latest involved was from the 2011 model year. Takata and VW have until Monday to provide information.

You can find vehicles affected by the Takata recall here.