To put a stop on these fraudulent practices, Toyota has promised a systematic change in Daihatsu’s leadership and transparent practices
The saga of a chain of scandals from the Toyota and Daihatsu camps seems to be going deeper than can be seen from the surface. The company had officially announced a thorough investigation of what went wrong. Recent revelations suggest there are as many as 7 new cars that are found to have passed safety tests with irregular data.
Toyota/Daihatsu scandals
In 2023, there were multiple fraudulent practices and rigged safety test results uncovered by Toyota and its subsidiary brand Daihatsu. What started as a whistle-blower case exposing rigged side collision tests from Toyota’s subsidiary, Daihatsu, has unfurled into a house of glass for Toyota brand.
Soon after the rigged side collision tests on Toyota Yaris Ativ/Vios, Perodua Axia, Toyota Agya, and a new model, there are fraudulent practices found with safety tests of Daihatsu Rocky and Toyota Raize. Soon Daihatsu stopped production across all four of its facilities.
Toyota has remarked that these malpractices ‘Has shaken the company’s very foundation’ and have revealed that there were irregularities found with as many as sixty-four cars! Recently, there have been seven new vehicles under the radar uncovered by the investigation where there were fraudulent practices with safety tests.
In three cars, the company has produced inadequate data in pedestrian and occupant protection tests. In four cars, there were errors and other irregularities in crash tests. Toyota Chairman, Akio Toyota, mentioned on May 31st, about how the company didn’t comply with standard testing methods and deviated from them.
Deviations in testing procedures
Since these revelations, the production of Crown sedan (last gen), Isis, Sienta minivan (last gen) and 4th gen Lexus RX. As revealed by Shinji Miyamoto, Chief Officer at Customer First Promotion Group, Toyota used airbag timer ignition development test data and used ‘timer ignition’ method to create severe collision conditions than standard for vehicles like Crown and Isis.
To evaluate damage to a pedestrian’s head, the crash tests for Corolla had an impact angle of 65 degrees, instead of 50 degrees. For cars like Corolla, Sienta and Crown, Toyota submitted unilateral point data instead of conducting separate left and right measurements. For cars like Crown and Sienta, Toyota used a moving barrier weighing 1,814 kg instead of 1,100 kg during rear collision tests.
Toyota even ignored a regulation change in the case of Yaris Cross and used old test data for damage caused to the rear bench by luggage placed in the trunk, during certification application. An engine power test with Lexus RX didn’t attain target output. Instead of investigating the same, there were adjustments made to the engine control system to achieve target results.
Something similar happened in India too, where Toyota diesel engines in 10 cars (globally) were found to have irregularities with engine power testing. Sticking to the recent seven vehicles globally, Toyota has assured customers of affected vehicles to continue using them as there are no performance issues. However, shipments of new Corolla Axio, Yaris Cross and Corolla Fielder have been stopped temporarily.
