Safety-test issues grow
A safety-test scandal involving carmakers in Japan has widened this week with Toyota and Mazda halting some shipments after the country’s transport ministry found irregularities in applications to certify certain models.
They were also discovered in some units from Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha. The ministry says companies submitted incorrect or manipulated test data when they applying for certification of vehicles.
The government ordered Toyota, Mazda and Yamaha to suspend shipments of some vehicles.
The latest revelations, reported by ChannelNewsAsia.com, came after the ministry requested carmakers in late January to investigate certification applications following a safety-test scandal at Toyota’s Daihatsu compact-car division that emerged in 2023.
The latest developments on June 3 are also likely to heighten focus on Toyota’s annual general meeting later this month. Influential proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis have recommended shareholders vote against re-electing Akio Toyoda, pictured above, as chairman.
In a report to shareholders, ISS singled out the “spate of certification irregularities” at the company.
“As the person in charge of the Toyota Group, I would like to sincerely apologise to our customers, car fans and all stakeholders for this,” Toyoda told a press conference.
He added the vehicle didn’t go through the correct certification process before being sold. The world’s biggest carmaker by volume said it temporarily halted shipments and sales of three models made in Japan.
Toyota says its wrongdoing occurred during six different tests conducted in 2014, 2015 and 2020. Affected vehicles were its Fielder, Corolla Axio and Yaris Cross, as well as discontinued versions of four popular models, including one Lexus.
In one example, it had measured collision damage on one side of a model’s bonnet while it was required to do so on both sides. In other instances, it conducted certain tests through development testing under more strict conditions than those set out by the ministry that didn’t meet the government’s requirements.
Toyota says it is still investigating issues related to vehicle fuel efficiency and emissions, and is aiming to complete that inquiry by the end of June. It adds there were no performance issues that violated regulations and customers didn’t need to stop using their cars.
Mazda suspended shipments of its Roadster RF sports car and Mazda2 hatchback from May 30 after finding workers had modified engine-control software test results.
It also found crash tests of the Atenza and Axela models, which are no longer in production, had been tampered with by using a timer to set off airbags during some frontal-collision tests instead of relying on an onboard sensor to detect a hit.
Honda reports it has found wrongdoing in noise and output tests over a period of more than eight years to October 2017 on some two dozen models no longer being made. And Yamaha has had halted shipments of a sports motorcycle.
