Rehired exec at center of Takata storm

DETROIT -- This past summer, Takata Corp. rehired a retired engineering executive to oversee its embattled quality-control operation -- an executive who is now at the center of a fresh controversy involving the company's disclosures about its defective airbags. Al Bernat, Takata's former vice president of engineering who retired in 2012, returned as a full-time employee in July and is now senior vice president of quality assurance."We brought him out of retirement," company spokesman Alby Berman said this week, "although he was doing some consulting with us even in retirement."Bernat's return came shortly after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced June 11 that it would reopen its investigation into malfunctioning airbags in vehicles produced by Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Chrysler and Toyota. The investigation focused on reports that airbags supplied by Takata could spray sharp metal and plastic fragments toward vehicle occupants in a crash and prompted another round in a series of recalls. During airbag recalls in 2009 and 2010, Bernat "came to be a point man for Takata whenever there was a NHTSA investigative inquiry," said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety. However, Bernat's role at the company has been under scrutiny since a Nov. 6 New York Times report that in 2004, he oversaw secret tests at Takata of 50 airbag inflators after Honda allegedly notified the supplier that an airbag had spewed metal debris during an accident in Alabama.The newspaper, citing two unidentified former Takata employees, claimed that Takata executives hid the test results, an allegation that the company sharply denied on Wednesday."Takata did not suppress any test results showing cracking or rupturing in the inflators," Takata said in a written statement. Bernat was not available for comment.The Times' allegations of a cover-up are likely to put Bernat's work in the spotlight when Takata officials face a hearing before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee next week.The hearing on Thursday will be lawmakers' first opportunity to publicly question them about defective airbag inflators that have prompted the recall of more than 11 million vehicles in the U.S. since 2008. Bernat is well-known within engineering circles. Two former Takata colleagues described him as technically competent and easy to work with.

Rehired exec at center of Takata storm

Featured Stories