#Antitrust - Commission fines car safety equipment suppliers €368 million in cartel settlement

The European Commission has fined Autoliv and TRW a total of €368,277,000 for breaching EU antitrust rules. Autoliv, TRW and Takata took part in two cartels for the supply of car seatbelts, airbags and steering wheels to European car producers. All three suppliers acknowledged their involvement in the cartels and agreed to settle the case.

Takata received full immunity for revealing the two cartels. Autoliv and TRW benefited from reductions of their fines for their cooperation with the Commission investigation. The three car equipment suppliers addressed in this decision exchanged commercially sensitive information and coordinated their market behaviour for the supply of seatbelts, airbags and steering wheels to the Volkswagen Group and the BMW Group. The cartel is likely to have had a significant effect on European customers, since the customers affected by the cartel, the Volkswagen Group and the BMW Group sell around three of every ten cars bought in Europe.

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “This is the second time we fine car safety equipment suppliers for participating in a cartel. Components such as seatbelts and airbags are essential for the safety of the millions of people that use their car to drive to work or take their children to school every day. The three suppliers colluded to increase their profits from the sale of these life-saving components. These cartels ultimately hurt European consumers and adversely impacted the competitiveness of the European automotive sector, which employs around 13 million people in the EU.”

The full press release is available online in EN, FR, DE.

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