The Japanese Ministry of Transportation is planning to cancel the necessary certifications for Daihatsu to produce 3 car models after discovering ongoing misconduct in the company’s product testing in December 2023. Daihatsu will not be able to continue producing these 3 car models until it regains certification.
Speaking to reporters on January 16, 2024, Mr. Tetsuo Saito, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan, stated that the ministry has started the process of revoking certification for Daihatsu’s 3 car models: Gran Max, Toyota TownAce, and Mazda Bongo. Toyota TownAce and Mazda Bongo are produced by Daihatsu and supplied to the other 2 brands. Before revoking the certification, the ministry will hold a hearing with Daihatsu on January 23, 2024.
Daihatsu Gran Max
The ministry also plans to issue an order under the Road Transport Vehicle Act on the afternoon of January 16, requiring Daihatsu to significantly restructure its organization.
Prior to assembling a new car model, automakers must first obtain certification through providing sample cars for testing. Certification is granted after the sample car passes the ministry’s screening process to determine if it meets the safety requirements.
After the certification is revoked, each new car model will have to undergo a vehicle inspection. The automaker cannot mass-produce the car model until the certification is regained.
As previously reported, on December 20, 2023, Daihatsu received the investigation results from the Independent Commission on irregularities in the company’s vehicle certification procedures. The investigation was conducted on 64 car models currently being produced and developed by Daihatsu.
In addition to the 3 mentioned cars, many Toyota car models have also been affected by Daihatsu’s scandal, such as Wigo/Agya, Rush, Avanza, Veloz, Raize, Yaris/Vios, and Yaris Cross. The investigation results show that Daihatsu’s misconduct began in 1989 with a now discontinued car model. However, Daihatsu’s fraudulent practices became particularly widespread after 2014.
Since December 20, 2023, the subsidiary of the Toyota group has stopped car production due to the scandal involving test misconduct. According to estimates by Nikkei Asia, the Japanese car brand may face damages of over 100 billion yen (approximately 700 million USD) due to factory shutdowns and financial compensation to suppliers.
Currently, Daihatsu has not announced the timing for the resumption of car assembly operations in its Japanese plant. According to previous information, Daihatsu’s plant may remain closed until the end of January this year. Meanwhile, in Indonesia and Malaysia, the production and distribution of Daihatsu cars have been restored.
In Vietnam, only 1 car model has been affected by Daihatsu’s scandal, which is Avanza Premio. On December 21, 2023, Toyota Vietnam also announced the suspension of vehicle delivery for Avanza Premio with manual transmission. At the same time, Toyota Vietnam confirmed that there would be no recall of the cars because Avanza Premio MT is only affected by emissions and fuel consumption testing and not related to safety testing.
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