* Sees 2016 organic sales up more than 7 pct
* Affirms 2016 margin outlook despite heavy spending
* Q1 operating profit $205 mln vs forecast $196 mln
* Shares rise as much as 8.3 pct (Adds CEO comment, detail, background, share)
STOCKHOLM, April 29 (Reuters) - Auto safety gear maker Autoliv raised its sales outlook for the year and stuck by bullish guidance on profitability, sending its shares up as much as 8 percent after reporting forecast-beating quarterly earnings.
Autoliv, the world's biggest maker of airbags and seatbelts, has been growing sales as carmakers move to replace millions of airbag inflators made by Japan's Takata in one of the biggest recalls to strike the auto industry.
"We continue to experience solid growth in our business related to the current recall situation in the airbag market," Chief Executive Jan Carlson said in a statement.
"This relates both to the sales of replacement inflators which is now higher than previously expected and the sustainable business we are winning."
Autoliv, which is based in Sweden but reports in dollars, said operating income rose to $205 million from a year-ago $80 million, beating a mean forecast of $196 million in a Reuters poll of analysts.
The Stockholm-listed shares in the company were up 7.3 percent by 1052 GMT, putting the stock on track for its biggest one-day gain in three years.
The company said it saw like-for-like sales growing more than 7 percent this year compared to a previous outlook of more than 5 percent. It also stood by a forecast for a core operating margin of more than 9 percent, defying some analysts' expectations that a year of heavy investment could force it to scale back guidance.
Autoliv also raised its forecast for delivery volumes of replacement airbag inflators due to Takata's crisis to as many as 30 million units in 2015 through 2018. It had previously seen deliveries of up 20 million units in 2015 through 2017.
"If they decide to recall more cars than they have done so far, there is definitely an upside to that," Carlson told Reuters.
Link to report: (Reporting by Niklas Pollard; Editing by Alistair Scrutton)