Toyota apologizes for cheating on vehicle testing and halts production of three models
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Monday, June 3, 2024. Toyoda apologized Monday for massive cheating on certification tests for seven models as the automaker suspended production of three of them.
(Kazushi Kurihara/Kyodo News via AP)·Associated Press Finance·
YURI KAGEYAMA
Updated Mon, Jun 3, 2024
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda apologized Monday for massive cheating on certification tests for seven vehicle models as the automaker suspended production of three of them.
The wide-ranging fraudulent testing at Japan’s top automaker involved the use of inadequate or outdated data in collision tests, and incorrect testing of airbag inflation and rear-seat damage in crashes. Engine power tests were also found to have been falsified.
Toyota Motor Corp., based in Toyota city, central Japan, suspended production in the country of the Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio and Yaris Cross. The deceptive tests were also found on discontinued models.
The company said the wrongdoing does not affect the safety of the vehicles already on roads, which include the Corolla subcompact and Lexus luxury vehicles.
“We sincerely apologize,” Toyoda told reporters, bowing deeply and holding the position for several seconds, as is customary in Japan at news conferences where companies apologize for misbehavior.
A Japanese government investigation into Toyota began in January. The issue does not affect Toyota’s overseas production.
Also Monday, Toyota's Japanese rival Mazda Motor Corp. reported similar irregular certification testing, and halted production of two models, the Roadster and Mazda 2. It said incorrect engine control software was used in the tests.
Mazda, based in the southwestern city of Hiroshima, also acknowledged violations on crash tests on three discontinued models. None of the violations affect the vehicles’ safety.
Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co. also apologized Monday for improper tests, such as those on noise levels and torque, on a range of models. Honda said affected older models — the Accord, Odyssey and Fit — are no longer in production. The safety of the vehicles is not affected, it said.
Certification problems starting surfacing two years ago at Toyota group companies, truck maker Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor Co. — specializing in small models — and Toyota Industries Corp., which makes machinery and auto parts.
Shinji Miyamoto, a Toyota executive overseeing customer satisfaction, said Toyota began looking into its own tests following the problems at the group companies.
The apparent unraveling of the testing systems at Toyota and its group companies is an embarrassment for an automaker that’s prided itself for decades on production finesse and a corporate culture based on empowering workers to make “ever-better cars.”
Toyoda, the grandson of the company’s founder, suggested some certification rules might be overly stringent, noting such tests differed around the world. But he repeatedly said he wasn't condoning the violations.
“We are not a perfect company. But if we see anything wrong, we will take a step back and keep trying to correct it,” said Toyoda.
He said the company may have been too eager to get the tests done and abbreviated them at a time when model varieties were burgeoning.
Toyota sells more than 10 million vehicles around the world.
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Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
Japan auto safety scandal widens, Toyota halts some shipments
News conference over rigging safety tests by its TMC affiliate Daihatsu, in Bangkok·Reuters
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda apologized Monday for massive cheating on certification tests for seven vehicle models as the automaker suspended production of three of them.
The wide-ranging fraudulent testing at Japan’s top automaker involved the use of inadequate or outdated data in collision tests, and incorrect testing of airbag inflation and rear-seat damage in crashes. Engine power tests were also found to have been falsified.
Toyota Motor Corp., based in Toyota city, central Japan, suspended production in the country of the Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio and Yaris Cross. The deceptive tests were also found on discontinued models.
The company said the wrongdoing does not affect the safety of the vehicles already on roads, which include the Corolla subcompact and Lexus luxury vehicles.
“We sincerely apologize,” Toyoda told reporters, bowing deeply and holding the position for several seconds, as is customary in Japan at news conferences where companies apologize for misbehavior.
A Japanese government investigation into Toyota began in January. The issue does not affect Toyota’s overseas production.
Also Monday, Toyota's Japanese rival Mazda Motor Corp. reported similar irregular certification testing, and halted production of two models, the Roadster and Mazda 2. It said incorrect engine control software was used in the tests.
Mazda, based in the southwestern city of Hiroshima, also acknowledged violations on crash tests on three discontinued models. None of the violations affect the vehicles’ safety.
Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co. also apologized Monday for improper tests, such as those on noise levels and torque, on a range of models. Honda said affected older models — the Accord, Odyssey and Fit — are no longer in production. The safety of the vehicles is not affected, it said.
Certification problems starting surfacing two years ago at Toyota group companies, truck maker Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor Co. — specializing in small models — and Toyota Industries Corp., which makes machinery and auto parts.
Shinji Miyamoto, a Toyota executive overseeing customer satisfaction, said Toyota began looking into its own tests following the problems at the group companies.
The apparent unraveling of the testing systems at Toyota and its group companies is an embarrassment for an automaker that’s prided itself for decades on production finesse and a corporate culture based on empowering workers to make “ever-better cars.”
Toyoda, the grandson of the company’s founder, suggested some certification rules might be overly stringent, noting such tests differed around the world. But he repeatedly said he wasn't condoning the violations.
“We are not a perfect company. But if we see anything wrong, we will take a step back and keep trying to correct it,” said Toyoda.
He said the company may have been too eager to get the tests done and abbreviated them at a time when model varieties were burgeoning.
Toyota sells more than 10 million vehicles around the world.
___
Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
Japan auto safety scandal widens, Toyota halts some shipments
News conference over rigging safety tests by its TMC affiliate Daihatsu, in Bangkok·Reuters
Updated Mon, Jun 3, 2024
By Daniel Leussink
TOKYO (Reuters) -A safety test scandal at Japanese automakers widened on Monday, with Toyota Motor and Mazda both halting shipments of some vehicles after Japan's transport ministry found irregularities in applications to certify certain models.
The irregularities were also found in applications from Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha Motor, the ministry said. The automakers were found to have submitted incorrect or manipulated safety test data when they applied for certification of the vehicles.
The ministry ordered Toyota, Mazda and Yamaha to suspend shipments of some vehicles. It said it will conduct an on-site inspection at Toyota's central Aichi prefecture headquarters on Tuesday.
The latest revelations came after the ministry requested automakers in late January to investigate certification applications following a safety test scandal at Toyota's Daihatsu compact car unit that emerged last year.
Monday's developments 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 as chairman at the meeting.
In a report to shareholders, ISS singled out the "spate of certification irregularities" at the Toyota Group.
"As the person in charge of the Toyota Group, I would like to sincerely apologise to our customers, to car fans, and all stakeholders for this," Toyoda, the grandson of the automaker's founder and its former chief executive, told a press conference.
He said the cars did not go through the correct certification process before being sold. The world's biggest automaker by volume said it temporarily halted shipments and sales of three car models made in Japan.
The scandals at the automakers are proving to be a sore point for the government, which has otherwise earned praise from investors and executives for its corporate reforms. Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan's top government spokesperson, called the misconduct "regrettable".
SHARES FALL
Toyota said its wrongdoing occurred during six different tests conducted in 2014, 2015, and 2020. Affected vehicles were three production models - the Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio and Yaris Cross - and discontinued versions of four popular models, including one sold under the Lexus luxury brand.
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 said it conducted certain tests through development testing under more strict conditions than those set out by the ministry that did not meet the government's requirements.
Toyota said it is still investigating issues related to vehicle fuel efficiency and emissions, and aimed to complete that inquiry by the end of June.
It added there were no performance issues that violated regulations and customers did not need to stop using their cars.
Toyota shares closed down 1.8%, underperforming a 0.9% gain in the broad Topix index.
Mazda suspended shipments of its Roadster RF sports car and the Mazda2 hatchback from Thursday last week after finding workers had modified engine control software test results, it said in a statement.
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 on-board sensor to detect a hit.
Mazda shares fell 3.3%.
Yamaha said it had halted shipments of a sports motorcycle.
Honda said it had found wrongdoing in noise and output tests over a period of more than eight years to October 2017 on some two dozen models that are no longer being produced.
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Rocky Swift; Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko and Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Edwina Gibbs, David Dolan and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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