Takata, the supplier of millions of defective air bags that are prone to fragment and send shards of metal flying through the cabin of the cars in which they are installed, recently denied a report that it had carried out secret tests (after normal work hours, and on weekends and holidays) on this defect and covered up the results. Two former employees, one of whom was a senior member of its testing lab, said that the secret tests in 2004 revealed the possible danger but that Takata executives discounted the results, ordered deletion of the test data, and did not alert federal safety regulators.
Meanwhile, details continue to emerge in the General Motors ignition switch crisis. Last month, it was reported that GM bullied one of its suppliers, in 2005, to continue producing a substandard ignition switch and leaned on the company to improve it even though it could not be fixed. The email emerged as part of the discovery process in a multidistrict litigation case against GM. that involves more than 100 lawsuits bundled together in federal court in New York. Other GM emails to the same supplier show that it placed an urgent order for 500,000 replacement ignition switches in December 2013 even though it took the company nearly two more months to recall cars with the defective part.
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