U.S. orders Takata to preserve defective air bag inflators for federal probe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States ordered Takata Corp on Wednesday to preserve all air bag inflators removed through the recall process as evidence for both a federal investigation and private litigation cases, the U.S. Transportation Department said.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx also said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would upgrade its Takata investigation to an engineering analysis, a formal step in the agency's defect investigation process.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Peter Cooney)