> I'm just surprised -- it makes sense to me when product recalls happen within a few weeks/months. But nearly two decades, I can't quite wrap my head around. W

> I'm just surprised -- it makes sense to me when product recalls happen within a few weeks/months. But nearly two decades, I can't quite wrap my head around. What was observed now that wasn't being observed previously, and why only now? Have you ever worked on a system with a ten-year-old bug (determined by looking at source history to find when it was introduced), but that was only recently discovered? Lots of problems only manifest in very rare circumstances and/or are difficult to diagnose. Another possibility is the effects of aging weren't properly predicted. Maybe the airbags functioned properly when now, but after 10+ years, something changed causing some of them to malfunction.