More likely they were told it was "okay for now." "Now" tends to go on for decades as Department of Transportation (state & federal) have budget priorities fixed on de-automotivating society. NASA did that for a long time with the space shuttle external tank foam shedding, until the Columbia disaster, whereupon they went "Oops." Boeing released the MCAS software on the 737 MAX without testing it in a critical failure scenario. "It's only a minor code rewrite." All these people knew better, but had no integrity in the face of kicking the can down the road. Simple human lapses of judgment and character, not a conspiracy.