Brian - try putting your finger on this: you're the MD of a large corporation - your primary job is to run the company to maximise the profits for the shareholders. That way you get to stay in the job and collect your massive annual salary.. .. .Now one of your customers comes along and asks you to do a test that will prove that a fault in a major component on one of your products can produce fatal results. You think about it for a while, consult the company lawyers, and quickly realise that if you prove that it can happen, then your company is very likely to face $multi-billion in lawsuits from the families of those killed. It would be tantamount to commercial suicide. In America silly money is awarded against big companies - it's the 'they can afford it' culture that seems to affect juries when they step into this kind of case (witness American Tobacco, et al).. .. .So what are you going to do?. .. .Would you spend a huge amount of time and effort on the project?. .. .Would you employ a safebreaker as a security guard in a bank?