Takata and Honda jointly hired Mr O’Neill to begin the audit in late October, days before Honda first announced findings of data manipulation. Takata engineers removed some test results to artificially reduce variability in air-bag inflator performance, Brian O’Neill, a former Insurance Institute for Highway Safety president, said in a phone interview. The next phase for Mr O’Neill and his team is to review more data pertaining to worldwide Takata inflators for Honda vehicles. As many as 15 deaths, including 10 in the US, have been linked to defective Takata air-bag inflators that rupture and spray plastic and metal shards at drivers and passengers. GM is closely monitoring the Takata inflator situation using internal and third-party experts, spokesman Tom Wilkinson said.

Source: Bangkok Post July 19, 2016 10:52 UTC