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By Daniel Leussink
TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor’s Daihatsu subsidiary will suspend deliveries of all its vehicles, Japan’s largest automaker said on Wednesday, after an investigation into a protection scandal uncovered disorders involving 64 models, totaling just about two dozen sold under the Toyota brand.
An independent committee investigated Daihatsu after it said in April that it had rigged side-impact protection tests on 88,000 small cars, the most of them sold as Toyota.
But the latest revelations suggest that the scale of the scandal is much larger and goes back much further than in the past and could potentially tarnish the reputation of car brands for quality and safety.
Daihatsu is Toyota’s small car unit and produces a series of small cars and trucks called “kei”, which are popular in Japan. The latest problems have also affected some Mazda and Subaru models sold locally, as well as Toyota and Daihatsu models overseas, the panel said. Found.
Toyota said a “fundamental reform” is needed to revitalize Daihatsu, as well as an overhaul of certification operations.
“This will be an incredible task that cannot be completed overnight,” Toyota said in a statement. “This will require not only a review of control and business operations, but also a review of the organization and structure. “
Toyota said it may not yet determine the financial impact of the case. Its shares closed unchanged on Wednesday, behind a 1. 4% rise in the broader market.
ON-SITE INSPECTION
The investigation found that the airbag control units used by Daihatsu in airbag tests for some models were different from the ones used in cars sold to the public, including Toyota’s Town Ace and Pixis Joy models and the Mazda Bongo.
Toyota said it was not aware of any injuries similar to this issue. He said side-impact tests on two models would possibly not comply with the law, even though checks showed the airbag met passenger protection standards.
Japan’s Transport Ministry said it would conduct an on-site inspection at Daihatsu’s headquarters in Osaka on Thursday.
Daihatsu executives said at a news conference that shipments would be suspended until regulators authorize the sale of the cars.
“The situation is incredibly serious,” said Daihatsu President Soichiro Okudaira, adding that any regulatory authorization received through fraudulent means can simply be revoked by law.
The misconduct also included false reports that headrests affect controls and control speeds for some models. The investigation found that cases of improper driving were specifically prevalent after 2014 and, in the case of a now-discontinued Daihatsu vehicle, date back to 1989.
Makoto Kaiami, chairman of the third-party investigation committee, said the committee did not consider Toyota guilty of misconduct, but that Daihatsu was seeking to live up to the expectations it had set for itself.
The challenge arose after Daihatsu said in April that it had discovered the tests performed incorrectly following a whistleblower report. It had reported the challenge to regulatory agencies and halted shipments of the affected models.
The following month, it said it had stopped sales of the Toyota Raize hybrid electric vehicle and its own Rocky model after also finding problems with testing for those models.
PREVIOUS SAFETY ISSUES AT TOYOTA
Daihatsu produced 1. 1 million cars in the first 10 months of the year, about 40 percent of them overseas, according to Toyota data. It sold about 660,000 cars overseas during this period and accounted for 7 percent of Toyota’s sales.
Toyota said on Wednesday that the affected models are included with those destined for the Southeast Asian markets of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as the Central and South American countries of Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Uruguay.
Daihatsu is the latest safety issue to impact the Toyota group over the years.
An engine data scandal at Toyota’s truck- and bus-making unit, Hino Motors, in 2022 led to resignations and temporary pay cuts for some managers.
In that case, Hino admitted to falsifying data on certain engines dating back to 2003, at least a decade earlier than it had initially reported.
In 2010, Toyota President Akio Toyoda, then chief executive, was forced to testify before the U. S. Congress due to a protection crisis related to faulty accelerators.
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; writing by David Dolan; editing by Mullikumar Anantharaman)
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