Koito admits falsification of airline seat flammability test results

[nick2007]

Not particularly good news coming from a reputable manufacturer. 150000 of the seats have been sold. Possibly affects ANA, JAL and SIA.

Plane seat safety tests faked - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/12/2818146.htm)

[Mad (Flt) Scientist]

As I commented earlier, I'm surprised how little enforcement action the company is getting.

[nick2007]

Apologies if there is an existing thread, I didn't notice it.

I imagine that enforcement in these cases is fairly slow going as the relevant authorities need to sift through the evidence before they can issue a verdict - we will need to wait several months before anything happens on that front.

[Mad (Flt) Scientist]

No worries; it's been exiled to the SLF forum (http://www.pprune.org/passengers-slf-self-loading-freight/405403-seat-supplier-koito-falsified-test-results.html) anyway and this is perhaps a better place for the topic.

The AIN article suggests that they've already had action regarding fixing the seats, which suggests the authorities have had enough time to come up with that; it's just a bit bizarre that they are still making new seats at the same time. I'd have expected some kind of break in production while they were made to get their house in order.

[Bushfiva]

I'm double-posting here, because I'm not sure being "exiled to the SLF forum" is the best place.

It's an "adherence to contracted standards" issue between industrial partners who are, in turn, subject to regulatory oversight. If Koito routinely falsifies data on an industrial scale (which it has admitted), then does that attitude carry across to its other products?　

Aircraft exterior/interior lights
Caution warning panels, other LCDs
Hydraulic equipment
Interior equipment including control sticks
Marine lighting

I dunno, perhaps the "it's only seats" people don't realise how much of their aircraft is made by Koito.

[Mr @ Spotty M]

My understanding is EASA stopped Airbus delivering a/c with seats from this manufacturer around September/October last year.

[nick2007]

If they have been resorting to these sorts of practices for an extended period of time, that would suggest that they are in a rather tight financial situation.

[G-ARZG]

'Air Transport World' daily newscast reports Koito 20% owned by ....Toyota !

[ZFT]

TG have also been impacted - this from yesterday's local press

Published: 11/02/2010 at 12:00 AM The Nation


Thai Airways International (THAI) has served notice it will terminate its $3.4-million contract with the Japanese aircraft seatmaker Koito Industries for its repeated failures to supply seats to its five new Airbus A330-300 jetliners.

[Astir 511]

This has been rumbling for a year now, originally Koito and EASA were working to address Technical shortcomings, however as the on site Airbus and Boeing teams dug deeper, they found the falsification. With their POA suspended they can't ship anything.

[lomapaseo]

Agree that its mostly a contract issue. But it greatly exposes the parties to litigation issues arrising from past injuries.

Now the issue needs to be re-examined to reassess the risk for the future, retesting of sample lots etc.

PS I don't see a problem with the reposting of the subject in a tech section as long as it is mostly a tech discussion rather than a news rehash

[FEHERTO]

Does anybody know, if they also do seats and other equipment for business jets?

[Cynthy Lee]

In order to reduce fire accidents caused by textiles, it is necessary to study the flammability of textiles. At present, flammability testing labs have been set up in various countries around the world to study the flammability of textiles, and the flammability test procedure and testing standards of fabrics have been formulated.

[Advert material deleted]

For those interested, the fire standards for interiors can be located at FAR 25.853 via the link - https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=531d4e0379bd146ed2f3bf928488ca41&mc=true&node=se14.1.25_1853&rgn=div8 (https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=531d4e0379bd146ed2f3bf928488ca41&mc=true&node=se14.1 .25_1853&rgn=div8)