Report Says Takata Hid Tests Showing Airbag Defect

Takata Corp. conducted secret tests a decade ago that confirmed some of its airbag inflators could crack when triggered. But the company ordered its lab technicians to destroy the inflators and delete the test results from their computers, The New York Times reports.

The tests in 2004 were prompted by a field report that a Takata inflator in a 2002 Honda Accord had exploded in Alabama.

The incident prompted Takata to conduct after-hours tests of 50 inflators collected from scrapped cars, according to two former long-time employees, one of whom was a senior member of the company's test lab in Auburn Hills, Mich.

They say that when two devices cracked in the tests, engineers began developing possible cures in preparation of a recall. But Takata didn't report the issue to federal safety agencies. The company said in a regulatory filing that it didn't first test the inflators until four years later, in 2008.

Takata told federal officials it corrected manufacturing problems by the end of 2002. But other former Takata employees tell the Times the company struggled as recently as 2009 to overcome quality control issues.