Takata airbag inflators became the center of one of the auto industry’s largest safety crises after investigators found that certain inflators could degrade over time—especially with heat and humidity—causing them to rupture when an airbag deploys and potentially spray metal fragments into the cabin. This Toyota settlement focuses on a specific slice of that fallout: U.S. automotive salvage and recycling businesses that bought Toyota, Lexus, Scion, or Pontiac Vibe vehicles containing recalled Takata inflators and then removed, refurbished, recycled, or resold those inflators or related parts. Because recyclers operate at the end of a vehicle’s life cycle, they’re often the ones handling recalled components directly and absorbing extra costs when a part is dangerous, restricted, or harder to lawfully reuse. The lawsuit alleged Toyota equipped certain vehicles with defective Takata inflators and that buyers—including salvage/recycling operators—effectively overpaid because the vehicles and parts were worth less given the defect and recall risk. Toyota denied wrongdoing but agreed to a $4.3 million class settlement that pays set amounts per inflator/module (with documentation such as VINs and, for missing/deployed inflators, specified geotagged photos), with claims due by Nov. 30, 2025; the significance is that it compensates businesses for downstream economic harm tied to a safety defect, not just consumers for repair time or diminished value. More broadly, it reflects how large recalls ripple through the entire automotive supply chain and the regulated used-parts market: airbags are safety-critical equipment subject to NHTSA oversight and recall rules, and dismantlers must navigate strict handling, resale, and recordkeeping expectations—issues that have surfaced in other Takata-related litigation and compensation efforts across multiple automakers as courts and regulators grapple with who should bear the costs of removing defective inflators from circulation.