Delivery stops

Scandal surrounding Japanese car manufacturer spreads

Toyota Chairman of the Board of Directors Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company founder, apologizes.

(Bild: AFP/APA/Yuichi YAMAZAKI)

A scandal involving falsified safety test data is catching up with Toyota and other Japanese car manufacturers. The companies stopped the sale of certain cars and motorcycles on Monday after the Japanese Ministry of Transport uncovered irregularities in safety tests.

According to the authorities, Mazda, Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha are also affected alongside Toyota. The companies had submitted manipulated data to the licensing authority, it said.

Government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi described the misconduct as "regrettable". The scandal casts a shadow over the economic policy of the government in Tokyo, which had recently received much praise for its reform course.

Toyota declared that the sale of three car models produced in Japan would be stopped for the time being. A spokesperson admitted that the company had submitted inappropriate data on impact protection during the approval process for several models. The misconduct relates to the years 2014, 2015 and 2020. "

Founder's grandson criticized
As the person responsible for the Toyota Group, I would like to apologize to our customers, car enthusiasts and all those affected," said Toyota Chairman of the Board of Directors Akio Toyoda. The cars had not undergone the prescribed certification process before being sold.

The issue is also likely to play a role at the upcoming Annual General Meeting in June. Several important investors have already spoken out against the re-election of Toyoda, whose grandfather founded the car company.

The scandal came to light last year after falsified crash tests at Toyota's compact car brand Daihatsu came to light. The Ministry of Transport then launched an investigation into all car manufacturers, which has now uncovered further falsified data. The Ministry of Transport announced an investigation at Toyota headquarters on Tuesday. The company itself stated that there were also unanswered questions regarding emissions tests. A corresponding investigation should be completed by the end of June.

However, manipulation also occurred at other car manufacturers, in some cases on a larger scale. Mazda admitted that employees had manipulated engine control software data, and that airbags in some models had been triggered by a timer in impact tests and not by the sensors intended for this purpose. According to the company, Honda falsified noise data for years.