Takata Disputes Report of Secret Airbag Tests

Beleaguered Takata Corp. says The New York Times is wrong in claiming the company conducted secret tests of possible airbag inflator flaws, then hid the findings.

The company says it did conduct tests in 2004 at the request of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to check for an airbag tearing problem, then shared results with the agency.

Takata says those test were not related to the company's defective airbag inflators, which have prompted 10 carmakers to recall about 8 million cars in the U.S. in the past two months.

In a statement, Takata says the Times "confuses multiple events occurring at different times and for different purposes and thereby tells a story that is simply untrue."

The Times report late last week of secret tests and erased data in 2004 prompted a lawsuit in California and calls on Capitol Hill for a criminal investigation.