TM Toyota Motor Corporation

Takata Corp. said Monday it will launch an advertising campaign to reach more owners of vehicles carrying its recalled air bags that can spray deadly shrapnel when inflated, and the supplier also said it is ramping up the number of kits it is producing to fix the problem.

The Japanese parts supplier is looking to raise completion rates of the fix for the automotive recall, which stands at 19.2 million vehicles—among the largest in U.S. history.

Takata said it is now producing 1 million inflater replacement kits a month, and expects that number to grow through the remainder of the year and into next. The supplier was previously producing about 350,000 a month through December, and in May produced 700,000, said Kevin Kennedy, Executive Vice President of North America TK Holdings Inc., in testimony before the Senate in late June.

The ad campaign helps address an item in a May 8 consent order from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that required Takata to propose a plan to maximize recall completion rates, with specific steps for assisting vehicle manufacturers in customer outreach "through new and traditional media." A representative said Takata submitted the campaign plan in July, within the order's 60-day deadline.

The digital ad campaign—the first of its kind by an auto supplier, the company said—comes after technicians at dealerships have said car owners weren't rushing in for the fix. Technicians interviewed by The Wall Street Journal in May said there was little sense of urgency, which some attributed to a desensitization to recalls. They also said dealership repair shops were perpetually short on replacement kits.

Takata Chief Executive Shigehisa Takada said testing by the company and independent parties continues to show that age and long-term exposure to a hot and humid climate are significant factors in the inflaters that have exploded.

The ad campaign will begin its rollout in regions associated with those conditions: Florida, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawaii, the outlying U.S. territories, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi.

The air bags with the faulty inflaters are found in autos ranging from sport-utility vehicles made by Honda Motor Co. to vehicles produced by Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Co., as well as Daimler AG trucks. Vehicles equipped with such air bags represent a significant chunk of the roughly 250 million vehicles on U.S. roads.

Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 19, 2015 14:35 ET (18:35 GMT)

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