Japan's many car companies violate rules, government suspends shipment of some models
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of Japan, which released a news release on June 3, the MLIT instructed a total of 85 automobile production companies to investigate whether there are similar situations in view of the succession of irregularities in the process of obtaining the model certifications required for mass production of automobiles and engines by Daihatsu Industries and other companies in Japan. As of the end of May, Toyota, Mazda, Yamaha Engine, Honda Techno Research Industries and Suzuki, a total of five companies in the vehicle performance testing and other aspects of improper behavior.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said it has instructed Toyota, Mazda and Yamaha Motor to suspend shipments of some of the automobiles and motorcycles they are producing, and has asked the companies concerned to provide detailed explanations to consumers. In the future, it will take into account on-site inspections and related results, and seriously deal with them based on relevant regulations.
In recent years, there have been numerous quality scandals in Japan's manufacturing industry, involving many fields such as automobiles, steel, and chemicals. Toyota, for example, since the year before last, its subsidiary Hino Motors, wholly owned subsidiary Daihatsu Industries, etc. have also been exposed in product testing violations, again to Toyota's brand image has caused a negative impact.
Toyota Motor announced today that it conducted an investigation into its application for model certification on January 26 this year, as instructed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan. While the investigation is still ongoing, seven models (including some models that have been discontinued since 2014) had test methods that did not comply with government standards, which the company reported to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on May 31st.
The application for certification of the model in question is said to involve insufficient data from pedestrian and occupant protection tests on three production models (Corolla Fielder /Axio and YARiS Cross), as well as errors in crash tests and other test methods on four discontinued models (Crown, SIENTA, IS and RX).
In its announcement, Toyota apologized and said that the vehicles in question had been thoroughly verified internally and that there were no performance issues that violated laws and regulations. There is therefore no need to stop using the affected vehicles, but shipments and sales of the three models currently being produced in Japan will be temporarily halted with immediate effect.