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Takata allegedly hid failed airbag rupture tests in 2000

New evidence suggests Takata engineers knew about the dangers of the supplier's ammonium-nitrate-propelled airbag inflators as early as 2000, but employees hid or even destroyed test results. The allegations came out in a pre-trial hearing in a civil suit from a woman who claims that a forcefully deploying airbag in her 2001 Honda Civic paralyzed her. The pre-trial hearing included an examination of a deposition from Thomas Sheridan, a former Takata airbag engineer, to see if the evidence was admissible for the case, according to the New York Times. Sheridan alleged that Takata created a report for Honda in June 2000 that showed the parts failed, but the supplier hid the testing data. The company also reportedly got rid of the ruptured components so that there was no physical evidence. "But when I went to look for the parts, because some of the parts had come apart, they were no longer available. They had been discarded," he said in the deposition, according to the Times. Takata disputes these allegations, and one of the company's lawyers asserts the inflators in the 2001 Civic are safe. "None of them have ruptured, zero," attorney David M. Bernick told the Times. "We have no evidence, in fact we have evidence to the contrary, that this inflator was defective at the time of the accident." However, Honda has recalls for the driver's side airbag in the 2001-2005 Civic. Previous reports also indicated some Takata employees allegedly knew the inflators were dangerous. For example, an investigation by the Wall Street Journal in 2015 cited internal memos from US employees in 2000 that complained that their counterparts in Japan altered or hid the results of failed validation tests. The New York Times also found evidence of engineers joking about manipulating results. The first Takata inflator recall came on Isuzu models in 2001, and automakers have recalled millions of vehicles around the world since then. Several companies, including Honda, have pledged to stop using Takata's inflators, and he US government fined the supplier $70 million last year. Related Video:

Japan wants to boost fuel-cell numbers 100x by 2020

How many hydrogen refueling stations will Japan need? Can each station handle 250 fuel-cell vehicles? They can in the Japanese government's new plans for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle growth and station deployment throughout the country. With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe continuing to trumpet fuel cells as the advanced powertrain of the future, the government says the number of fuel-cell vehicle on its roads will multiply by 100 within the next four years, according to the Japan Times. Specifically, Japan, which is home to about 400 fuel-cell vehicles today, hopes to have 40,000 by 2020 and a whopping 800,000 by 2030. More importantly, Japan has 80 stations either in operation or slated to be deployed soon, and hopes to double that number by the end of the decade. For perspective's sake, the US has about two-dozen publicly accessible hydrogen fuel cell stations today, according to US Department of Energy. The newer ones are can dispense 100 kilogram a day, which can fuel 20-25 cars a day. Japanese automakers Honda and Toyota appear to be trying to do their parts in the H2 plan. Earlier this month, Honda started leasing its Clarity fuel-cell vehicle in Japan and is planning to bring them to California later in the year. The vehicle, which is priced at about $68,000 in Japan, is said to be able to travel about 466 miles on a full hydrogen tank, per the more lenient Japanese driving cycle (roughly 300 miles on the US scale). Honda will start production at a rate of 200 vehicles a year. With skin in the game, though, Honda indicated late last year that it was frustrated with what it said was the slow pace of fuel-cell station deployment in Japan, according to Bloomberg News. Honda was collaborating with hydrogen supply company Iwatani Corp. on what they called a "Smart Hydrogen Station," though that concept was in its testing phase as of last December. The Mirai also started sales in Japan and debuted in limited numbers in California last year. Last fall, Toyota set a rather lofty goal of selling 30,000 fuel-cell vehicles a year by 2020 as part of its Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050. Related Video: News Source: Japan TimesImage Credit: YOSHIKAZU TSUNO via Getty Images Green Honda Toyota Hydrogen Cars

180,000 new vehicles are sitting, derailed by lack of transport trains

If you're planning on buying a new car in the next month or so, you might want to pick from what's on the lot, because there could be a long wait for new vehicles from the factory. Locomotives continue to be in short supply in North America, and that's causing major delays for automakers trying to move assembled cars.
According to The Detroit News, there are about 180,000 new vehicles waiting to be transported by rail in North America at the moment. In a normal year, it would be about 69,000. The complications have been industry-wide. Toyota, General Motors, Honda and Ford all reported experiencing some delays, and Chrysler recently had hundreds of minivans sitting on the Detroit waterfront waiting to be shipped out.
The problem is twofold for automakers. First, the fracking boom in the Bakken oil field in the Plains and Canada is monopolizing many locomotives. Second, the long, harsh winter is still causing major delays in freight train travel. The bad weather forced trains to slow down and carry less weight, which caused a backup of goods to transport. The auto companies resorted to moving some vehicles by truck, which was a less efficient but necessary option.