According to Bloomberg, in response to the impact of a safety scandal investigation, Daihatsu Motor Co., a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp., will suspend exports and cease operations until January next year. A previous investigation revealed that a majority of Daihatsu vehicles had not undergone proper crash safety testing.
Daihatsu is currently under investigation by the Japanese Ministry of Transport, resulting in the suspension of operations at its three factories in Ryuocho, Shiga Prefecture, Oyamazaki-cho, Kyoto Prefecture, and Nakatsu City, Oita Prefecture. Additionally, Daihatsu's Kyushu headquarters factory is scheduled to close on December 26, signifying a comprehensive production halt at the company's Japanese plants. Daihatsu has expressed uncertainty about when exports or production can be resumed.
A Daihatsu spokesperson informed reporters on December 25 that Daihatsu will compensate all 423 companies directly supplied by the company.
Last week, the Japanese Ministry of Transport conducted a surprise inspection at Daihatsu's headquarters in Osaka, primarily due to previous reports alleging that Daihatsu had manipulated safety performance test results since 1989. In April of this year, Daihatsu requested a third-party investigation, suspecting improper conduct in testing. The investigation found 174 issues among 64 Daihatsu models, some of which are models sold by Toyota.
The focus of the investigation was on the airbag controller, revealing differences in the controller used by Daihatsu in crash tests compared to those used in cars in the market. Although controllers from other tests were later confirmed to meet industry standards, Toyota stated that the side-impact test results for Daihatsu's Cast and Toyota Pixis models "may violate legal requirements." Toyota mentioned that no accidents or incidents related to this issue have been identified.
The suspension of car exports will impact vehicles produced by Daihatsu in Japan and abroad, as Daihatsu supplies components and manufacturing services to many automakers, not limited to Toyota factories but possibly including other manufacturers like Mazda and Subaru. Additionally, a Daihatsu spokesperson mentioned that Daihatsu's component business involves over 4,000 entities, and the company will collaborate with the government to support these component enterprises when necessary.
Currently, the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia have confirmed that Daihatsu cars sold locally are safe to use, leading to the resumption of exports to these two countries.
Daihatsu is renowned for its popular "Kei Car" series in Japan and Southeast Asia. Since 2016, it has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toyota, constituting about 4% of Toyota Group's global sales.
