Audit Says Takata Tweaked Honda’s Airbag Data

A continuing audit by Honda Motor Co. and Takata Corp. shows Takata engineers routinely groomed test data about the supplier’s airbag inflators to make the performance of the devices appear more consistent.

Exploding Takata inflators have been linked to at least 13 fatalities and more than 100 injuries, almost all involving Honda vehicles. Honda and a dozen other carmakers so far have recalled about 100 million Takata inflators.

The Honda-Takata audit is headed by Brian O’Neill, former president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. He tells Bloomberg News the analysis to date has found “selective editing” of data done by Takata to generate more appealing performance reports.

Bloomberg says several current and former Takata engineers acknowledged in depositions about a Takata inflator injury claim settled last week that they they also doctored performance reports submitted to General Motors, Nissan and Toyota.

Honda ordered the audit, which focuses on Takata inflators tested and used in North America, to determine whether it needs to widen its recall of the devices. O’Neill tells Bloomberg the audit will eventually expand to Takata inflators supplied to Honda in other markets.