Claim That Takata ‘Covered Up’ Faulty Airbag Test Results: Report

Japanese parts manufacturer Takata, currently at the centre of a massive global recall for defective airbags, reportedly knew about the faults but attempted to cover them up.

That’s the disturbing claim made by two former Takata employees this week, speaking with The New York Times.

The pair alleges Takata ordered 50 tests on passenger airbag units recovered from written-off vehicles in scrap yards, after learning of a possible fault.

The steel inflators in two of the units reportedly cracked during testing, resulting in metal fragments being projected towards the front seat passengers. 

These reported results - obtained a decade ago - are consistent with underlying reasons for the airbag recall today (see Nightly Business Report video, top of page) which to date has seen over 14 million vehicles affected.

The former employees claim Takata’s engineers immediately began work on a solution to the problem in preparation for a recall, before the parts-maker ordered them to delete the testing data from computers and dispose of the faulty products.

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