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Quest to save a few dollars per air bag led to a deadly crisis
GM supplier Autoliv recalls how it was asked to match Takata's cheaper design in the late 1990s or risk losing carmaker's business
Add BT as a preferred sourcePublished Sun, Aug 28, 2016 · 09:50 PM
New York
IN THE late 1990s, General Motors got an unexpected and enticing offer. A little-known Japanese supplier, Takata, had designed a much cheaper automotive air bag.
GM turned to its air bag supplier - the Swedish-American company Autoliv - and asked it to match the cheaper design or risk losing the carmaker's business, according to Linda Rink, who was a senior scientist at Autoliv assigned to the GM account at the time.
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