A recent regulatory sweep of Japan's auto industry found that the country's biggest car manufacturer, Toyota, lied on safety certification tests. Honda, Suzuki, Mazda and Yamaha were also caught up in the dust. Japanese auto regulatory agencies caught on to the industry-wide swindle after Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu was found to have blatantly falsified safety data.
He said the cars did not go through the correct certification process before being sold. The world's biggest automaker by volume said it temporarily halted shipments and sales of three car models made in Japan.
The scandals at the automakers are proving to be a sore point for the government, which has otherwise earned praise from investors and executives for its corporate reforms. Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan's top government spokesperson, called the misconduct "regrettable".
[…]"As the person in charge of the Toyota Group, I would like to sincerely apologise to our customers, to car fans, and all stakeholders for this," Toyoda, the grandson of the automaker's founder and its former chief executive, told a press conference.
In one example, it had measured collision damage on one side of a model's bonnet while it was required to do so on both sides.
Daniel Leussink, Reuters
"Look, if the left side works fine, the right side should too!. Just copy and paste those results into the Excel spreadsheet, c'mon we got a deadline here!" Said the boss, presumably, while chomping on a cigar.
Toyota has ceased shipments on a few models, but Toyota maintains that the cars certified during the scandal are still safe to drive.
