UPDATED: 4/4/18 1:50 pm ET - adds court documents
DETROIT -- A federal judge in Michigan greenlighted a plan on Tuesday to dole out $850 million to automakers from Takata Corp.'s restitution fund, court documents show.
U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh approved the request by Special Master Eric Green, who was appointed by the court to oversee distribution of the restitution payments stemming from the largest safety recall in automotive industry history. The fund was formed as part of a plea deal Takata entered with the U.S. Department of Justice early last year.
Toyota Motor Corp. will receive the largest share of the pot at $141.3 million, followed by Volkswagen AG at $123.7 million and Honda Motor Co. -- which has the greatest exposure to the largest recall in automotive history -- will receive a share of $121.6 million.
Almost 22 percent of the restitution fund will be distributed to the Detroit 3 automakers, amounting to $182.5 million. General Motors received the biggest sum among the three at $86.9 million, followed by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles at $51.9 million and Ford Motor Co. received $43.7 million.
Currently, the airbag recall has affected an estimated 34 million vehicles in the U.S, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Faulty inflators in airbags have led to 23 deaths worldwide, and hundreds of injuries, according to Reuters and other news sources, driving Takata to file for bankruptcy in June.
Takata is in the process of is selling its surviving businesses to Chinese-owned Key Safety Systems, a unit of China's Ningo Joyson Electric Corp., in a $1.6 billion deal.
The Detroit News reported the court action earlier on Wednesday.
