Daihatsu ‘manipulated crash test results’

Daihatsu Motor Co, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp, said it manipulated crash test results on 88,000 cars that were manufactured in Thailand and Malaysia and sold within the past year.

The issue affects Toyota-branded Yaris Ativ and Agya models, as well as Perodua cars produced by a Malaysian joint venture and another vehicle being developed by Daihatsu. They were sold in Thailand, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Indonesia and Mexico, Daihatsu said on Friday. 

The cars had components in their door trims during crash tests that likely influenced the results and were different to those eventually sold to the public, Daihatsu said. Tests will be conducted again and sales will resume if the vehicles are certified properly, the automaker said. 

“We sincerely apologise to the customers and stakeholders whose trust and support we have betrayed,” Daihatsu president Soichiro Okudaira said at a media briefing on Friday. A third party will investigate the matter, he said. 

In March 2022, another Toyota unit — Hino Motors — said it had been sending fabricated emission and fuel economy data to authorities since at least 2016 and that it sold more than 115,000 vehicles certified using fake data.

Toyota group’s production reached a record 10.7 million vehicles worldwide in the fiscal year through March 31, according to figures released on Thursday. Global sales totalled 10.6 million.