The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a report that names the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Boeing, and lithium-ion battery manufacturer GS Yuasa Corp. collectively responsible for the battery fire that grounded the entire Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet last year.
The NTSB concluded that the battery fire was a result of an internal short circuit within the battery itself and not caused by environmental conditions or being charged above normal levels.
Obviously, the short circuit issue can be attributed to GS Yuasa’s manufacturing process but the fact that Boeing and the FAA also failed to detect the issues makes all three parties culpable.
In the end, the NTSB delved out 15 safety recommendations to the FAA, two to Boeing, and one to GS Yuasa.
Boeing told The Wall Street Journal the company is “confident in the comprehensive improvements made to the 787 battery system following this event.”
