The European Commission has fined five manufacturers of airbags, steering wheels and seat belts a total of EUR 34m for breaching EU antitrust rules. The EU said the companies were involved in one or more of four cartels for supplying auto safety equipment to Japanese car manufacturers in the European Economic Area. All five suppliers acknowledged involvement in the cartels, including coordinating prices or markets and exchanging sensitive information, and agreed to settle the case.

The fines will be EUR 8m to Autoliv (Stockholm / Sweden; www.autoliv.com), EUR 156,000 to Marutaka (Tokyo / Japan), EUR 12.7m to the now defunct airbag manufacturer Takata (Germany: Takata Petri, Aschaffenburg; www.takata.com), EUR 1.8m to Tokai Rika (Oguchi / Japan; www.tokai-rika.co.jp/en) and EUR 11.3m to Toyoda Gosei (Tokyo; www.toyoda-gosei.co.jp).

Takata and Tokai Rika were granted some immunity since the companies informed the Commission of the cartels. This particularly benefited Takata, which would otherwise have been fined around EUR 74m.