ETHICS QUIZTAKATA’S FAULTY AIRBAGS-RECALL

Group 3

Aditya SharmaGuilherme C MateusHazem Hanouti

TAKATA CORPORATION

One of the biggest Japanese automotive parts manufacturing company.

35000 employees. Manufactures AIRBAGS, steering wheels, seat belts

and electronics. Seatbelt recall - In May 1995, a recall in the U.S.

affecting 8,428,402 predominantly Japanese vehicles made between 1986–91 with seat belts manufactured by the Takata Corporation of Japan begun.

TAKATA AIRBAGS

Takata began making airbags in 1988 and, as of 2014, holds 20 percent of the market. During 2013, several automakers began large recalls of vehicle due to Takata-made airbags.

Most of these defective airbags were manufactured from Takata’s Monclova’s plant in Mexico.

Affected automakers: BMW, GM, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, and  Toyota.

BMW moved its production to Germany’s plant after discovering about these flaws.

PROBLEM -• Takata Corporation• Airbag Failure• 6 deaths• 3.6 million vehicles

recalled in 2013.• About 17 million

vehicles, made by 10 different automakers, have been recalled .

Process of Failure

• Airbag Explosion• Metal parts flying. They hit

and cut through the neck of a victim.

• If the air bag housing ruptures in a crash, metal shards from the air bag can be sprayed throughout the passenger cabin—a potentially disastrous outcome from a supposedly life-saving device.

• Does not absorb the crash impact

Central Ethical Isssues

• Code of Ethics for Engineers

• Broke 3 of 5 fundamental Canons : Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public. Avoid deceptive acts. Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.

• Refuse to cooperate for the investigations of the NSPE

Possible reasons for the defect

Nissan’s explanation of the issue was one of the clearest: “The propellant could potentially deteriorate over time due to environmental factors [due to many years in high humidity conditions], which could lead to over-aggressive combustion in the event of an air bag deployment. This could create excessive internal pressure within the inflator and could cause the inflator housing to rupture.”

Another reason could be the inappropriate use of chemical Ammonium Nitrate . They used different chemicals compared to their competitors and were warned by an employee who states that he resigned due to this reason.

HIDDING RESULTS of AIRBAG TESTING According to the sources who remain unnamed by The New York

Times because they still have links to Takata, following a crash in 2004, the supplier began pulling airbags out of vehicles at junk yards and tested them after work, on weekends and during holidays, to keep it a secret. Allegedly, at least two of these evaluations showed cracks in the parts, and the workers actually began developing a solution for a presumed recall.

"All the testing was hush-hush," one former employee told the Times. "Then one day, it was, 'Pack it all up, shut the whole thing down.' It was not standard procedure.“

At some point the analysis was stopped, and all of the data was destroyed. According to the insiders, these studies were allegedly known at least as high as Takata's vice president of engineering.

Because of large demand, Takata’s workers ignored inspection of possible defected airbags to meet up the demand.

Consequences - Punishment Over 8 million vehicles recalled in US alone. 17 million

worldwide. Vehicles have been recalled in more humid areas. Reason –

Humidity may be the only reason for exploding-airbags problem.  NHTSA fined Takata $14,000 per day for not cooperating fully

with the agency's investigation into the air bag problems. Honda - $70 million fine for not reporting required documentation.

Ford issued a statement adding an additional 447,310 vehicles to the recall.

Honda issued a statement saying it will comply with NHTSA and expand its recall to a national level. This brings the number of affected Honda/Acura vehicles to 5.4 million.

NHTSA called for the recalls to be expanded to a national level.

Mark Lillie’s Testimony and interview Mark Lillie, who left the Japanese auto-parts maker in 1999, said his

departure was tied to Takata’s disregard of his warnings against using the chemical compound ammonium nitrate to inflate its air bags.

His words : “I knew that ultimately there were going to be catastrophic failures,” Lillie said in a phone interview. “I didn’t want my name associated with it.”

Takata’s reply - The company’s review panel will “conduct a comprehensive review to ensure Takata’s current manufacturing procedures meet best practices in the production of safe inflators,” Takata said in the e-mail. “We look forward to their findings and recommendations, which will be shared publicly at the culmination of their review.”

According to the New York Times, Takata conducted secret tests on 50 airbags in 2004 and later destroyed the results.

ETHICAL PROTOGONIST If Takata had destroyed the results of their 50 airbag tests,

sources suggest that the matter and such instructions have been coming from senior employees up to the Vice-President of quality assurance – Mr. Al Barnet.

The alleged tests were performed in secret, after work hours, in Takata’s American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., in the summer of 2004, the employees told the Times.

The results remained hidden by Takata’s officials until the mishaps took place in 2008.

“The testing revealed that the steel canisters used to house the air bag’s rapid inflation system contained cracks that compromised its structural integrity

They probably thought that it would cost a huge blow to the company if they were asked to recall all vehicles and thus kept the results hidden.

PROBABLE CONTRADICTIONS WITH NPSE CODE OF ETHICS

Section I: 1 - Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.

Section I: 3 - Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.

Section I : 5 - Avoid deceptive acts. Section I: 6- Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and

lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession.

Section II: 1b - Engineers shall approve only those engineering documents that are in conformity with applicable standards.

Section II: 1d - Engineers shall not permit the use of their name or associate in business ventures with any person or firm that they believe is engaged in fraudulent or dishonest enterprise.

Section II: 3a - Engineers shall be objective and truthful in professional reports, statements, or testimony

Section III: 1a - Engineers shall acknowledge their errors and shall not distort or alter the facts.

Section III: 2b - Engineers shall not complete, sign, or seal plans and/or specifications that are not in conformity with applicable engineering standards. If the client or employer insists on such unprofessional conduct, they shall notify the proper authorities and withdraw from further service on the project.

Questions

What would you do if you knew the airbags are faulty after the company has already sold thousands of vehicles with faulty airbags?

All deaths due to faulty airbags have been in Honda manufactured vehicles. Why only Honda vehicles have the greatest problem if airbag manufacturer is the same for all 10 companies? Honda is the co-defender in this case.

If humidity is the only reason for over explosion, why only Takata’s airbags are effected by it? Ammonium nitrate?

SOURCE CITATION http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/06/autos/takata-airbag/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-04/takata-whistle-blower-willi

ng-to-testify-on-air-bag-flaws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takata_Corporation http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/10/everything-you-need-to-kno

w-about-the-takata-air-bag-recall/index.htm http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/business/international/takata-maker-of-airb

ags-expects-wider-loss-as-recall-costs-mount.html?_r=1 http://blog.caranddriver.com/massive-takata-airbag-recall-everything-you-need-t

o-know-including-full-list-of-affected-vehicles/ http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Owners/NHTSA-statement-on-takata-air-bags http://www.autonews.com/article/20141107/OEM11/141109863/reports-of-takat

a-coverup-require-a-criminal-investigation-lawmakers https://www.google.com/search?

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