The effort to improve reliability was in its final stage in the spring of 1986. To confirm reliability during actual use, the second fleet test was carried out using 100 Legends produced on the factory line.

Each of these cars was equipped with a device to measure changes in the system's electrical resistance. Based on the resultant data, the team then examined how the electrical characteristic would change depending on the usage of the car, the season or day/night temperature differences, and how such electrical changes would affect the system. The results verified the reliability they had achieved. The test fleet of Legends proved highly effective in improving reliability. It was the traceability system, or bar-coding of every part used in the system that allowed the production staff to identify which part had been installed on what car.

With this system, the affected cars could be immediately identified and appropriate actions taken, should an error be found in a part or mount in the airbag system after it was sold.

In fact, when a defect was found in a production lot of inflators in 1990, the affected cars were quickly identified via the traceability system and the defective parts were replaced within a matter of days. The cost of replacing the parts for the affected twelve cars in Japan was i¯800,000. Had it not been for the traceability system, the company would have had to check all 500,000 vehicles sold, causing a considerable inconvenience to many Honda customers.

Once the fleet test had confirmed the target reliability level, Japan got its first airbag system in the Legend in September 1987. It was a dozen years after development began, way back in 1975. It is no surprise in retrospect, but more customers than initially expected were choosing to go with the airbag system. Today, airbags have become standard equipment. This could not have occurred without the diligence of a development staff that worked to achieve the absolute limit of reliability.

Numbers alone cannot truly express the notion of reliability. It is affected by various elements relating to conditions of production, the target system or its parts, and the environments to which they are ultimately subjected. Therefore, the determination of Honda's development staff made all the difference. It was they who examined all these elements, and it was their hard work that resulted in a new technology.

"We faced many obstacles during development," said Kiyoshi. Honda, looking back at that period. "As soon as we managed one hurdle, we'd find ourselves facing another. But what we experienced was a series of joyous events, not painful ones. Of course, we had to learn many things in different areas of technical discipline. We studied theories of gunpowder combustion and high-molecular materials. We even prepared a patent-application document concerning chemical-related issues. Although I hated all those statistics, I had no choice but to study it. After all, once you begin developing a technology that no one in the world knows anything about, you soon realize you have only yourself to depend on."