A new scandal in the automotive industry? Daihatsu, a subsidiary of Toyota, just announced a radical decision on Wednesday, December 20th. The investigation revealed numerous cases of “counterfeiting” during brand safety checks, which led to the immediate cessation of supply of all its models.

The case, which came to light in April and May of last year when Daihatsu admitted to manipulating the crash test results of six of its models, gained significant momentum after the publication of a report by an independent commission.

“Pressure” as the only argument?

The results, presented to the Ministry of Transport of Japan, emphasized no less than 174 violations in 25 categories of testing, some from 1989! In total, these falsifications concern 64 models of vehicles, including those made for automotive giants such as Toyota, Mazda and Subaru.

In an official statement, Daihatsu presented its “deepest apologies” to their customers, acknowledging the availability “betrayed their trust”. In response to these revelations, the manufacturer decided “To temporarily suspend the supply of all models developed by Daihatsu that are currently manufactured in Japan and abroad”.

The report of the expert commission links these falsifications with various factors, including “extreme pressure due to excessively tight and rigid development schedule” as well as a lack of experience at the management level.

Makoto Kaiami, the head of the commission, stressed at the press conference that the personnel responsible for the safety tests were “under intense pressure to succeed”, due to limiting the number of test vehicles available to reduce costs. He added that “The prevailing state of mind was that no failure would be forgiven”.

Japan’s Ministry of Transport has scheduled an inspection at Daihatsu’s premises to confirm the facts recorded in the report.

Is Toyota also in turmoil?

Toyota, as Daihatsu’s parent company, also issued a statement expressing its opinion “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and concern this situation has caused”. Toyota has also decided to suspend deliveries of the affected models.

This scandal is not the first for Daihatsu, which already in April last year admitted to falsifying the results of safety tests of four of its models. In May, production of two hybrid car models was halted in Japan due to similar violations, including the Toyota Raize SUV, produced on behalf of Toyota.

The Daihatsu company, founded in 1907, specializes in the production of mini-cars called kei cars, which are very popular in Japan, and occupies about 30% of the market share in this segment. After Toyota took control in 1967, the company stopped supplying its models, most of which were sold in Japan and Southeast Asia. Europe doesn’t care because no Daihatsu model is sold in our regions.

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