Engineering Design Case Study
The Takata Airbag Recall
Airbags are one of the most important safety equipment in almost all vehicles on the road today. All new cars sold in Australia today come with airbags as standard (NRMA, 2017). United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that airbags save the lives of at least 2500 people every year in the United States alone (Glassbrenner, 2002). People rely on airbags to save their lives if there is a crash, therefore it is crucial that airbags are engineered and manufactured to the highest possible standard. Consequently, many people, including me were shocked when it was finally revealed that faulty airbags manufactured by Takata have led to the deaths of at least 16 people (Soble, 2015). Even more shocking was the fact the airbags were manufactured by Takata, a major airbag manufacturer, who currently holds around 20% if the airbag market (Lienert & Shepardson, 2017). The investigation resulted in the largest vehicle recall, with more than 60 million vehicles being …show more content…
First, they have not been adequately tested before going into mass production. Secondly airbags were manufactured in an uncontrolled environment, without making sure that what is produced is up to the required standards. The last, and probably the most serious mistake made by the corporation was to intentionally sabotage the publication of research data that indicated the failure of the airbags. The conclusion from the Takata Airbag recall is that under no circumstances should the engineering method be ignored for financial gain. As the case shows ignoring the engineering method will only result in much greater losses than any possible gains could be. For ignoring the engineering method Takata had to pay 1 billion US dollars in fines, but that is nothing compared to the loss of 16 lives and thousands of unnecessary injuries to
The Takata Airbag Recall
Airbags are one of the most important safety equipment in almost all vehicles on the road today. All new cars sold in Australia today come with airbags as standard (NRMA, 2017). United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that airbags save the lives of at least 2500 people every year in the United States alone (Glassbrenner, 2002). People rely on airbags to save their lives if there is a crash, therefore it is crucial that airbags are engineered and manufactured to the highest possible standard. Consequently, many people, including me were shocked when it was finally revealed that faulty airbags manufactured by Takata have led to the deaths of at least 16 people (Soble, 2015). Even more shocking was the fact the airbags were manufactured by Takata, a major airbag manufacturer, who currently holds around 20% if the airbag market (Lienert & Shepardson, 2017). The investigation resulted in the largest vehicle recall, with more than 60 million vehicles being …show more content…
First, they have not been adequately tested before going into mass production. Secondly airbags were manufactured in an uncontrolled environment, without making sure that what is produced is up to the required standards. The last, and probably the most serious mistake made by the corporation was to intentionally sabotage the publication of research data that indicated the failure of the airbags. The conclusion from the Takata Airbag recall is that under no circumstances should the engineering method be ignored for financial gain. As the case shows ignoring the engineering method will only result in much greater losses than any possible gains could be. For ignoring the engineering method Takata had to pay 1 billion US dollars in fines, but that is nothing compared to the loss of 16 lives and thousands of unnecessary injuries to