Daihatsu will stop shipping all its cars in the world after security and safety problems were discovered in 64 vehicle models produced by the manufacturer under Toyota. Of the 64 cars, 24 of them were sold under the Toyota brand.
The independent panel investigating the Daihatsu scandal last April said the Japanese brand had cheated in tests or side crash tests on four models marketed abroad. It is estimated that around 88,000 cars were affected by this fraud.
But in the latest findings it was revealed that the fraud affected more models and car units sold by Daihatsu throughout the world. Apart from Daihatsu and Toyota, this cheating will also impact several Mazda and Subaru models sold in Japan.
In a statement Wednesday (20/12/2023), Toyota said it would carry out fundamental reforms to revitalize Daihatsu.
“This task is very important and cannot be done in a short time. It requires not only an evaluation of management and business operations, but also a reassessment of the company’s organization and structure,” said Toyota in its official statement.
Japanese newspaper Asahi previously reported that Daihatsu cheated in crash and safety tests of cars currently on sale on the market as well as those that have been around for a long time.
This scandal was revealed last April. Not long after, sales of the Toyota Raize hybrid and Daihatsu Rocky were stopped because fraud was also discovered in the safety tests of the two cars.
Daihatsu produced 1.1 million cars over the last 10 months and almost 40 percent of them were produced outside Japan. The company also sold 660,000 cars worldwide in the same period.
Toyota acknowledged that the problematic models were sold in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and several South American countries such as Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay and Mexico. [Reuters]