As early as 2000, the Japanese auto supplier Takata manipulated test results on airbag inflaters, according to a person with direct knowledge of internal company documents.
The data manipulation, whose details were first reported by The Wall Street Journal, involved tests intended to demonstrate compliance with automakers' design specifications, said the person, who was not authorized to speak.
Eight deaths and over 100 injuries have been linked to defective airbags made by Takata, one of the world's largest airbag makers. The bags' inflaters can rupture, propelling shrapnel into the passenger compartment. More than 19 million vehicles in the United States, and millions more worldwide, have been recalled.
This month, Honda dropped Takata as a supplier of certain inflaters, saying that Takata had "misrepresented and manipulated test data." Honda has so far declined to give details but has said that it is aware of "apparent instances of misleading or inaccurate data that were provided to Honda over time" related to "a variety of testing."
Honda has said that it alerted federal regulators to evidence as it became available. The Tokyo-based automaker has also ordered third-party auditing of Takata's test data. Honda's actions came after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a $70 million penalty for Takata for failing to promptly disclose the airbag defect. In its consent order, the agency also accused Takata of reporting "selective, incomplete or inaccurate data."
N.H.T.S.A.'s penalty could be raised by $130 million if Takata does not follow the terms of the consent order, potentially making it the biggest civil punishment in auto industry history. The company still faces a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, lawsuits and inquiries from lawmakers.
A Takata spokesman, Jared Levy, did not immediately return a request for comment. A Honda spokesman, Chris Martin, also did not respond to a request for comment.
After Honda announced that it planned to drop Takata as a supplier, Takata's top safety official, Hiroshi Shimizu, told a news conference in Tokyo that company engineers had not manipulated data. While Takata may have "reported only part of the data" on at least one occasion, "there was no problem" with Takata's findings, he said.
But Levy, Takata's United States spokesman, quickly backtracked, saying that Takata did not dispute claims it had manipulated test data but that it was unrelated to the recalls.
Since Honda's announcement, Ford, Nissan and Toyota have also said publicly that they will not use certain Takata inflaters.
Last month, The New York Times reported that even as Takata and Honda assured regulators in 2010 that the ruptures were linked to isolated manufacturing issues, the companies enlisted a top pyrotechnic lab at Penn State University to determine whether ammonium nitrate propellant in the inflaters might be at the root of the defect.
Former Takata engineers have said they voiced concerns in the late 1990s over the use of ammonium nitrate, which can become more volatile when exposed to moisture. But their concerns went unheeded, they said.
©2015 The New York times News Service
