In May 2023, Toyota’s subsidiary company, Daihatsu, announced that it has decided to halt the sale, pre-order, registration, and delivery of the hybrid (HEV) versions of the Toyota Raize and Daihatsu Rocky models in the Japanese market after discovering abnormalities in the side collision testing process.
After 5 months, these two A-segment SUV models continue to be “frozen” in the domestic market. This led Toyota to cancel the orders of customers who had placed pre-orders for the Toyota Raize HEV and Daihatsu Rocky HEV in Japan.
According to the Japanese press, the number of canceled orders for the Toyota Raize HEV reached around 30,000 customers. The corresponding number for the Daihatsu Rocky HEV is about 5,000 units.
At the same time, Toyota also proposes that customers choose another model to replace their canceled orders. However, in the case of Daihatsu, there is no other model in the brand’s product range that can replace the Rocky HEV.
As previously reported, Daihatsu’s scandal involves the side collision testing against a pole (UN-R135). According to regulations, the company needs to conduct collision tests on both the left and right sides of the vehicle. Then, the company must submit collision test data for both sides. However, Daihatsu only conducted collision tests on the side with the driver’s seat (left side). Daihatsu should have submitted collision test data for the side with the driver’s seat (right side) but submitted data for the tests on the left side. In total, 78,440 vehicles have been affected, including 22,329 Daihatsu Rocky HEV and 56,111 Toyota Raize HEV.
Toyota Raize HEV and Daihatsu Rocky HEV
By the end of May 2023, Daihatsu conducted in-house collision tests for these two hybrid models at the Shiga Technical Center in Japan. Through the testing, the Toyota Raize HEV and Daihatsu Rocky HEV have been confirmed to be safe by the company. However, since then, neither of these models has been reintroduced to the Japanese market.
“This is only Daihatsu’s in-house test and has not been confirmed by regulatory agencies. In order to continue delivering vehicles to dealerships and selling them in the market, we will conduct tests for both the Daihatsu Rocky HEV and Toyota Raize HEV in the presence of regulatory agencies. We will also perform the necessary procedures such as confirming other certification categories and consulting with regulatory agencies,” explained Daihatsu.
This is not Daihatsu’s first safety testing scandal this year. Previously, in April 2023, the brand admitted to manipulating the side collision tests for more than 88,000 vehicles, mostly Toyota Vios (also known as Yaris Ativ in the Thai market) and Perodua Axia (or Toyota Agya in Indonesia and Wigo in Vietnam).
