TOKYO (AP) – Toyota has found improper crash testing of a model and suspended deliveries in the latest in a series of embarrassing problems plaguing Japan’s top automakers.
The latest issue, revealed late Friday, affects 56,111 Toyota Raize hybrid vehicles manufactured by Daihatsu Motor Co., a 100% Toyota-owned small-model manufacturer.
According to the automakers, 22,329 vehicles sold as Daihatsu Rocky are also affected. The vehicles were all sold in Japan.
In the crash tests that failed, the results of a bar used to measure impact on the left side were used for the right side, requiring both sides to be tested, Daihatsu said.
Just a week ago, Toyota Motor Corp. admitted that there had been a data breach at its Connected online service, which is operated by a group company. The breach spanned a decade, meaning driver information from more than 2 million vehicles was at risk of being leaked. No violations were reported.
A separate crash test issue for Daihatsu models sold abroad was announced last month, affecting 88,123 vehicles. Another review found wrongdoing in the Japanese market as well, according to the automakers.
The previous issue affected the Toyota Yaris ATIV sold in Thailand, Mexico and some Gulf countries, the Perodua Axia sold in Malaysia, and the Toyota Agya in Ecuador.
Daihatsu apologized at the time and assembled a third-party team to investigate. There was no recall and found the vehicles to be safe to drive, but expressed deep regret for violating inspection standards.
The Toyota models were supplied by Daihatsu under the industry-standard OEM system, where products made by another company are sold with a different nameplate.
Toyota, which sells about 10 million vehicles each year, boasts a record of impeccable quality based on a production system that nurtures the individual worker.
The recent issues are not recalls. But Toyota went through a phase more than a decade ago in which it announced recall after recall, covering a wide range of defects, including faulty floor mats, sticky accelerator pedals and glitches in the braking software, affecting millions of vehicles.
The recall fiasco in 2009 and 2010 resulted in Toyota being fined $48.8 million in the US for its slow response. Toyota managers have repeatedly promised to act faster and more transparently.
Management has renewed its “commitment to manufacturing integrity,” the company, based in the central Japanese city of Toyota, said in its latest statement.
“All of our group companies, including Toyota, have started a thorough review to work towards a full endorsement of our governance system. “We will work with Daihatsu to address this issue,” it said.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama