Carmaker faces ‘drastic reforms’
Japan’s transport ministry has ordered Toyota Motor Corporation to make “drastic reforms” to its model certification operations after discovering new cases that failed to follow the correct procedures.
In a so-called corrective order, officials say on-site investigations had uncovered widespread, intentional misconduct and irregularities in seven additional models that had not been previously disclosed.
Correction orders are administrative actions taken by the government over alleged misconduct by manufacturers when the failure is considered to be systemic, reports the Japan Times.
“We take the issuance of the correction order by the ministry very seriously and promise to make efforts to improve,” says Koji Sato, Toyota Motor president.
Toyota adds the latest incidents were caused by on-site and management factors, such as unclear rules for filing certification applications and a lack of understanding and involvement by executives in the process.
In June, five Japanese carmakers disclosed the improper certification of vehicles and the falsification of testing data. Toyota said at that time it had improperly tested seven models.
The ministry, after conducting its own investigation, says it found further cases of misconduct, such as falsifying test results and or conducting improper testing in the certification process.
It says the eight extra incidents involved seven models, the Prius Alpha, Lexus RX, RAV4, Camry, Noah Voxy, Harrier and Lexus LM.
Toyota says: “The newly discovered cases have been reported to the relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and they are in the process of confirming compliance with the standards.
“Customers do not need to stop using the vehicles.”