Takata Corp., the manufacturer of defective airbags that can explode inside vehicles, is the defendant in another class action lawsuit, this one accusing the company of ordering its technicians to destroy evidence showing airbag defects.

In 2004, according to The New York Times, Takata learned that one of its airbags had “ruptured” and sprayed an Alabama motorist with metal debris. Takata conducted secret testing on 50 airbags it retrieved from scrapyards, according to the story. The tests were done after normal work hours and on weekends and holidays at the company’s American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., two former employees involved in the tests disclosed to the newspaper.

According to The New York Times, the former employees came forward out of concern that Takata “was not being forthright about the defective airbags.”

During the tests, steel inflaters in two air bags cracked, an occurrence that can lead to rupture, according to the employees. Engineers began designing possible fixes in preparation for a recall, the former employees said, but Takata executives did not notify federal safety regulators. Instead, according to The New York Times, they “ordered the lab technicians to delete the testing data from their computers and dispose of the airbag inflaters in the trash.”

The day after The New York Times published its story, the same law firm that filed a lawsuit against Takata in October filed the second defective airbag lawsuit, this one alleging that the airbag manufacturer knowingly destroyed evidence.

The first airbag defect lawsuit, filed on behalf of the owners of 5 million Hondas affected by a recall, contends that Honda has been aware of the exploding airbag problem since at least 2001 but delayed recalling the cars. The plaintiffs allege that they suffered inconvenience and financial losses, including a decline in resale value of their cars. They also allege that they have been harmed by having limited use of their cars, having been told there is a months-long wait for Honda to replace the defective airbags.

The defective airbags have led 11 automakers, including Honda, to recall more than 14 million vehicles worldwide. The exploding airbags, which can spray shrapnel inside the vehicle, have been the subject of 139 lawsuits. Takata airbags account for about one-fifth of the global market.

In addition to Takata, the latest defective airbag lawsuit also named Honda Motor Co. Ltd., American Honda Motor Co. Inc. and Takata subsidiaries as defendants.

Members of the proposed airbag defect class action lawsuit include anyone in the United States who purchased or leased a Honda vehicle with a defective Takata airbag and that has been subject to an airbag-related warning or recall.