Japanese car manufacturer Daihatsu, a subsidiary of Toyota, announced on Wednesday the temporary suspension of deliveries of all of its vehicle models after an independent investigation identified numerous facts of “falsification” of its safety tests. Daihatsu admitted last April and May to falsification of crash test results for six of its models, and an independent commission was set up to investigate in order to “fully clarify the nature of the irregularities and identify their cause deep”.
According to its report released Wednesday, and which was given to the Japanese Ministry of Transport, the investigation identified 174 irregularities among 25 test categories, in addition to those identified last spring. These irregularities concern a total of 64 vehicle models, including models manufactured on behalf of Toyota, Mazda and Subaru. “We sincerely apologize to our customers for … betraying their trust,” Daihatsu said.
As a result, the manufacturer has decided “to temporarily suspend deliveries of all models developed by Daihatsu and currently in production in Japan and abroad”. According to public broadcaster NHK, the Japanese Ministry of Transport is due to carry out an inspection at Daihatsu’s premises on Thursday to try to confirm the facts recorded in the report. The expert group that wrote it attributes Daihatsu’s faults to factors such as “extreme pressure due to an excessively tight and rigid development schedule” and the lack of expertise of management.
Toyota also expressed in a separate statement its “sincere apologies for the inconvenience and concern this situation has caused”, and also announced that it would suspend delivery of affected models. The purpose of the checks is to verify “that vehicles meet different standards so that customers can drive their vehicle with complete peace of mind” and are “an essential prerequisite for operating as a car manufacturer,” Toyota said. “The extreme seriousness” of “Daihatsu’s negligence in the certification process has shaken the very foundations of the company as an automobile manufacturer,” he added.
Daihatsu’s president and Toyota officials are scheduled to hold a news conference Wednesday afternoon. Daihatsu admitted last April to falsification of crash test results on four of its models, concerning a total of 88,000 vehicles manufactured in Thailand and Malaysia in 2022 and 2023. Then in May, it announced to cease production in Japan of two models of hybrid vehicles due to similar “irregularities”, including that of the Toyota Raize SUV, manufactured on behalf of its parent company. Daihatsu produced more than 1.7 million vehicles worldwide in the 2022/23 financial year ended at the end of last March, around half of which were in Japan.
This specialist in mini-vehicles very popular in Japan called “kei cars”, a market in which it holds around 30%, makes most of its sales in the archipelago and in South-East Asia. Founded in 1907 to manufacture internal combustion engines, the company based in Osaka (western Japan) launched its first three-wheeled vehicle in 1931. In 1967 it came under the control of Toyota.