Think Takata Airbags are an isolated incident?

There is more to the Takata Airbag scandal. It involves the tendency of Japanese companies to skirt the laws for profit. Saving money at the cost of quality and safety.

After working for a Japanese company for over 12 years it became clear to me, they point fingers and try to blame others (non Japanese) for the problems they themselves create, all for the profit or "companies bottom line". As you may remember, the floor mat acceleration cause, Sudden stalling of vehicle due to operator error, Takata Airbags deaths caused by US manufacture. The list goes on.

Quality and complete process is strictly controlled by Japanese companies all from Japan or a "Japanese national" at the manufacturing facility. Even though the product is Japanese, they will often elude to no one can make it if not Japanese and in Japan. This statement has been recorded while the Japanese engineer rants about a problem due to improper translation of a manufacturing process work sheet the he himself translated.

A recent relabeling of a Japanese product to reflect it was a Made in USA product, by a Japanese solder manufacturer was not fully investigated by the FTC. This, FTC Matter Number P074204, closed by FTC even though there was a meeting, audio recorded to include a recording of the sales manager during the actual changing of the labels, reflected a deception to sell said product as American Made. Also included were pictures of original Japanese labels on the product with the un-applied American labels next to them The American made product had not been made or quality tested yet, but the sales of the product were more important. The interesting part of this is that, this product was being sold to another Japanese owned company, for use in a product of a Japanese Automotive manufacturer. Ironic but the documents and recording exist, including recorded conversations with the FTC lawyer being informed and played the meeting and sales managers recording.

The jest of this is, corruption and deception is (Japanese) industry wide with all attempts to cover-up and deceive. Got to save face and make money. I know there are others out there who have seen these practices. Keep in mind that non disclosure agreements are for the protection of company products and secrets not for unethical behavior and/or actions.

 Buy what you want, but when something goes wrong, ask for the documentation of ISO, it exists, shows trends and many times shows deception.