Boeing wasn’t quite able to chalk up the 787 Dreamliner as a win. Apart from the delivery delays that customers had to go through, not long after this aircraft took to the skies it had to be grounded because of problems with the batteries. Similar battery related incidents happened in different parts of the world, on Dreamliners owned by different airlines, which resulted in the need to redesign and recertify the battery. Now a report has been published which points a few fingers at various reasons behind the problems.
Citing a report from the National Transportation Safety Board, The Wall Street Journal writes that the main reason for these battery fires were the “deficiencies in the design and certification process,” and it goes as far as to term Boeing’s assessments of the lithium-ion batteries insufficient.
A portion of the blame falls on Yuasa as well, the company that manufactures the batteries. Its production process was flawed and allowed for defects which could lead to short-circuiting in the battery’s internal cells, not to mention the fact that the battery’s final design was actually different from the one that had been tested and certified.
For this the NTSB points the finger towards Federal Aviation Administration as well for lack of oversight as far as outsourcing of components for the Dreamliner is concerned.
Boeing hasn’t really commented on the report, only saying that it now has a “deeper understanding of the in-service environment.” An attorney for Yuasa says that while the company respects the NTSB’s decision the actual cause for battery defects remains “elusive.”
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