AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)05/22 Report--

A few days ago, Toyota once again issued an announcement, wholly-owned subsidiary Dafa Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dafa Industry") once again found violations in the vehicle crash test, and finally suspended the sale of two hybrid models.

It is understood that Dafa Industry admitted to the outside world that there were violations in the side impact test of its two hybrid models, and should have submitted the test data of the driver's seat and the passenger seat respectively, but actually submitted the data of the passenger seat as the data of the driver's seat to the Ministry of Land and Transport of Japan, while Daihatsu did not do the collision test on the side of the driver's seat.

Data show that the two hybrid models involved are Dafa Rocky and Toyota Raize, respectively, which began to be sold to the Japanese market in November 2021, one of which was produced by Toyota. The former sold a total of 22329 units by May 18, 2023, while the latter sold a total of 56111 units, totaling 78440 units. Toyota said it would stop selling the models from May 19, 2023, and report the situation to Japan's Ministry of Land and Transport. On the same day, the Toyota president held a press conference on the Internet to apologize to the outside world, saying that he would prevent the same mistake from happening again in the future.

This is the second safety test scandal in Dafa Industry in nearly a month. At the end of last month, Dafa issued an announcement admitting that four models developed in overseas markets-Toyota Yaris Ativ, Perodua Axia, Toyota Agya and an undisclosed product-had been falsified in crash tests, mainly sold to international markets such as Thailand, Mexico, Ecuador and the Middle East, with a total of 88123 vehicles sold.

It is understood that the four models carried out additional "modification" before the crash test, and the front door lining area of the vehicle was deliberately modified into a notch with grooves. In the side collision, after such modification, the vehicle may be more conducive to the deployment of the side airbag, and at the same time avoid the modification of some structures in the front door lining area, which may cause damage to the occupants. In short, it is to make its four test cars to minimize the risk of collision testing.

Dafa Motor said in the announcement that in April, the company received reports from insiders about this behavior, and the company conducted a preliminary investigation, interviewed the competent authorities suspected of violating the law, and checked the design changes and test results of the vehicles involved and in the process of development. finally, it was confirmed that the lining of the front seat doors of these vehicles had been improperly modified, violating the side collision testing procedures and methods stipulated in the regulations. After discovering improper behavior, Dafa immediately reported and consulted to the inspection and certification body, and suspended shipments after discussion with Toyota. In addition to the internal investigation committee, Dafa said it had set up an independent third-party committee to clarify the details of the matter, analyze the root causes, and formulate measures to prevent recurrence accordingly.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda said: Dafa's misconduct involves safety issues, and safety is the most important aspect of the vehicle. We think this is an absolutely unacceptable act of betraying the trust of our customers. We apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused to customers and all interested parties around the world.

In recent years, it is not uncommon for Japanese manufacturing enterprises to falsify their data. In March 2022, Toyota's Hino Motor announced that its internal investigation found that there was a problem with engine data fraud at the factory, which has affected as many as 115000 vehicles for more than 20 years. It is almost twice as many as Hino's annual sales in Japan. According to the announcement, the misconduct occurred at the Japanese factory where the engine was tested in Hino. During the test of one of the engines, the testers directly replaced the exhaust system parts to make the test results as expected because the results were substandard.

As a country with industry as its development, the reliability of its industrial standards has been widely recognized internationally, but the frequent incidents of data fraud in recent years affect not only the trust and interests between enterprises, but also pose a threat to the safety of consumers. The "craftsman spirit" of Japanese manufacturing industry is also called "craftsman spirit" by netizens. Although every time Japanese executives use 90 °bows to express their greatest apologies, frequent bows seem to have failed to restore the brand image.

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