Takata Corporation Case Study

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The automotive parts supplier Takata Corporation was founded in 1933 . The company started out as a textile company that wove strings for parachutes and then later began producing seat belts for automobiles. As the company grew, Takata started to focus their research and development in automobile safety systems such as passive restraint systems. In 1976, the company first began to develop an air bag research program. After 11 years of development, the company was finally able to put driver’s side air bags into full production. The company had experienced years of growth and then began having problems with a seatbelt buckle they produced. After a voluntary recall on the buckle, Takata was able to recover from the crisis and continue to grow.…show more content…
Approximately 16million defective buckle had defective mechanisms that could fail. There were 900 complaints and 40 injuries, but zero deaths related to the buckle. Takata changed the buckle material from ABS plastic to a more durable plastic in 1992 but still did not initiate a recall. Then the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration issued a voluntary recall in May of 1995. Customers with defective seat buckles could bring their vehicles free of charge for repair. While it appeared that Takata had resolved their recall crisis, another had already…show more content…
The crisis had moved into the acute stage . Despite having three more air bag rupture reports in 2007, Honda chose to wait till 2008 to recall the airbags. Instead they decided to settle with each injured party. Takata also chose to take a defensive stance and blame the accidents on an anomaly rather than recall all the defective products. An article from 2015, in the New York Times reported that the automotive industry had raised concerns about the risks of the ammonium nitrate in 2004; and Takata had assured the auto makers it was complying with the specifications. While a former engineer told the times that Takata had manipulated tests at its plant in La Grange, Ga around the same period. Takata provided fraudulent information to its stakeholders to enrich its shareholders. Although Honda was a victim, I believe they had an ethical duty to perform their own in-house testing of any part they

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