DTA Development is a Limited Liability Company
formed by Defiance Testing & Engineering Inc. and
Tower Automotive. This joint venture was created in response to Tower Automotives' need for additional product development laboratory capacity in the Detroit area. The purpose of DTA Development is to provide product development testing services for cross-functional design teams and business units.

DTA Development is located on the Defiance campus in Westland Michigan and occupies about 18,000 square feet of laboratory and office space. The official startup of the operation was on August 15, 2000 and is equipped with MTS servo-hydraulic equipment providing fatigue testing of automobile and truck structural assemblies.