A Japanese automobile manufacturer has temporarily shut down production after admitting to a long time of fraudulent safety test results.
“We recognize the intense gravity of those irregularities, their causes, and the recommendations to stop their reoccurrence identified in the course of the Independent Third-Party Committee’s investigations,” automaker Daihatsu wrote in a press release on the corporate’s website.
“We is not going to only review and revise certification application operations, but we may even make sweeping reforms to our corporate culture by making compliance the very best priority to stop occurrences of comparable events in the longer term,” the corporate said. “We may even make company-wide efforts to regain the trust of our stakeholders.”
Daihatsu, a Toyota subsidiary and one in every of Japan’s oldest combustion engine manufacturers founded in 1907, immediately shut down its factories and suspended all vehicle imports and exports.
The shutdown will impact 1000’s of auto parts makers and employees in what the Associated Press called a “blow” to local economies.
A Toyota subsidiary shut down after admitting to fraudulent safety test results. AFP via Getty Images
An independent investigation checked out 64 vehicle models and located 174 counts of irregularities in safety tests and other procedures, in keeping with The Hill. Irregularities included tampering with safety tests, creating false information or fabricating test data in apparently widespread and systemic issues at the corporate.
Daihatsu halted all shipments while the investigation continued, and Japan’s Transport ministry began on-site inspections that looked into issues in the corporate dating back to 1989 – across the time that Daihatsu made its push into the U.S. market.
The corporate did not make an impact in America because it faced overwhelming competition from rivals, including Toyota, which had a serious interest of around 16.8% it bought in 1967.
Toyota expanded that interest to 33.4% in 1995 after which an outright controlling interest in 1998.
Daihatsu had a contract to provide small vehicles for Toyota, and a few of its cars ended up rebranded as Toyota models and sold within the U.S., even after Daihatsu stopped selling on to the American market. Such models include the Toyota Cayla, the Toyota Roomy and the Toyota Avanza, amongst other smaller models.
Subaru also sold some re-badged Daihatsu vehicles, including the newest generation of the Subaru Stella and the Subaru Chiffon.
Daihatsu is Toyota’s unit specializing in small cars and trucks which are popular in Japan. The corporate assembled some 870,000 vehicles on the 4 plants in fiscal 2022.
The corporate declined to say when production may resume, but media reports said production lines will remain closed at the least through the top of January, The Associated Press reported.
Toyota North America didn’t reply to a FOX Business request for comment by time of publication.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
