According to media reports, on January 24, affected by the previous collision test fraud incident, Toyota's subsidiary, Daihatsu, officially submitted an application to the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism to recall a total of 322,740 vehicles. This marks the first time the automaker has requested a recall due to improper testing practices.
Earlier, the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism instructed Daihatsu to consider recalling the Daihatsu Cast model and Toyota's Pixis Joy model. In addition, the ministry revoked the production permits for three Daihatsu models and identified 14 other instances of improper conduct.
Last month, Daihatsu stated that these models may not meet safety standards, and in the event of an accident, the doors could be locked, making it difficult to open from the outside.
Due to this incident, Daihatsu was forced to halt the overseas sales of vehicles. However, a few days later, the company resumed shipping new cars to Malaysia and Indonesia. The company's production in Japan is still temporarily suspended, and the date for resumption remains uncertain.
The earlier investigation found that certain Daihatsu models used a different airbag control unit in collision tests compared to the models sold in the market. Toyota stated that no accidents related to this issue have been reported. The investigation also uncovered 174 new cases of violations in safety tests and other procedures in 25 test categories. Members of the investigation team stated that workers engaged in cheating due to the urgent development cycle pressure imposed by the management, and the management should take responsibility.
Daihatsu's improper conduct also involved false reports on headrest impact tests and safety test speeds for certain models. The investigation found that such behavior became more prevalent after 2014, and instances of misconduct in one discontinued model even date back to 1989.
In April of this year, Daihatsu admitted to cheating in side-impact safety tests for 88,000 vehicles, with 64 models affected, including 20 models sold under the Toyota brand. The investigation also revealed issues with some models sold by Mazda and Subaru in Japan, as well as models sold overseas by Toyota and Daihatsu. The scandal's impact is much larger than initially thought, with a longer retrospective period, potentially causing profound effects on Toyota's reputation in terms of quality and safety.
