Rumbling during safety tests
None other than Akio Toyoda apologizes on behalf of Toyota for tampering with safety tests. Toyota itself has not cheated during safety tests, because subsidiary Daihatsu is responsible for that.
Akio Toyoda – former CEO and President of Toyota and now Chairman of the Board – apologizes on behalf of Toyota for “misconduct” by Daihatsu. Daihatsu – which is a subsidiary of Toyota – has messed around with safety testing. That has far-reaching consequences.
In several models, Daihatsu made adjustments to test cars during crash tests so that they scored better in safety tests. In the Toyota Yaris Ativ, Perodua Axia and Toyota Agya – all models developed by Daihatsu – Daihatsu modified the inside of the driver’s front doors during crash tests to improve the side impact test results. Daihatsu itself also apologizes “for violating the trust that customers and other stakeholders have in us and for causing great inconvenience,” Daihatsu writes. Akio Toyoda speaks of Daihatsu’s misconduct and calls the issue “absolutely unacceptable that damages customer confidence.”
The Daihatsu-based Toyota Yaris Ativ.
Toyota says it is launching an extensive investigation into the consequences of Daihatsu’s rumbling and which other models are involved. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota, Daihatsu develops various models itself and is also responsible for the full certification of its models. Various models are not only known as Daihatsu, but also as Toyota. The aforementioned Toyota Yaris Ativ, for example, was developed by Daihatsu and uses the same technology as, for example, the Daihatsu Rocky. The Perodua Axia and the Toyota Agya mentioned are actually slightly modified versions of the Daihatsu Ayla. They too are based on a Daihatsu basis: the DNGA-A platform. Toyota may fear that more shared models have tampered with one of Daihatsu’s DNGA platforms – there are quite a few. Daihatsu already says that there may still be cars in development where it has not been done properly.
Toyota Ayya.
According to Daihatsu, the delivery of the affected models has been stopped. According to the brand – in consultation with Toyota – the models involved will be subjected to safety tests again in due course. Delegates from inspection and certification bodies will be closely involved in the re-testing of the cars. If the cars comply with the legislation, the delivery of the models will resume. According to Daihatsu, owners of the affected models do not have to do anything now. Toyota, through Akio Toyoda, promises to keep its customers informed of the latest developments in this matter. As far as is known, 88,123 units of the affected models have already been delivered. More than 76,000 of these are a Toyota Yaris Ativa that are built in Thailand and Malaysia for the Thai and Mexican markets, among others. The remaining small 12,000 pieces are a Perodua Axia produced in Malaysia for the local market. The Toyota Agya would only go into production in Indonesia later this year and should eventually find its way to Ecuador. No Toyotas developed by Daihatsu have been delivered in the Netherlands.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl