On July 31, Toyota Motor Corporation released an announcement that it received the first rectification order ever issued by the Japanese government, because a previous on-site investigation found that the company had seven models that had not yet obtained proper certification for large-scale production.
The models involved in this time include Toyota Prius, RAV4, Harrier, Noah, Camry, Lexus LM, and RX. It is reported that among these seven models, four models are still in production and six models have been sold overseas. The new case has brought the total number of models currently under review by Toyota Motor Corporation to 14. It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of July, Toyota Motor Corporation said that its internal investigation did not find other cases, and now the situation is very embarrassing. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan requires Toyota Motor Corporation to submit the remedial measures to be taken within one month.
Toyota Motor Corporation stated in the statement that the participation of the company’s senior leaders in the vehicle certification process is not enough. “In the future, we will implement better data management and other structures to ensure proper testing.” At the same time, Sato Koji apologized to customers, saying “it has brought worries to customers and also apologized to the workers in Toyota Motor Corporation’s factories.” He added that all vehicles can be driven safely.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan released an announcement on June 3. In view of the successive violations in the process of obtaining the model certification required for mass production of automobiles and engines by companies such as Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. in Japan, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan instructed a total of 85 automobile production companies to investigate whether there are similar situations. By the end of May, a total of five companies including Toyota Motor Corporation, Mazda, Yamaha Motor, Honda R & D and Suzuki have fraud in vehicle performance testing and other aspects.
Toyota admitted in the announcement that the test data for pedestrian and occupant protection of three mass-produced models (Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio, Yaris Cross) is insufficient, and from now on, it will temporarily stop the delivery and sale of the three models currently produced in Japan. On July 31, the CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan instructed to conduct on-site inspections again and continue to investigate the reasons for the violations and make reports. Also on the 31st, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan announced that through the tests conducted by the Japanese government side, it was confirmed that the three models that had previously required Toyota Motor Corporation to suspend production and delivery met safety and environmental standards. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan has cancelled the instruction to suspend production and delivery of these three models.
In response, Toyota China issued a statement, stating that it has confirmed the models sold in the Chinese market and emphasizing that these models have nothing to do with this incident. Toyota China said: “We sincerely apologize to the customers. After confirmation, the models sold by FAW Toyota, GAC Toyota and Lexus in the Chinese market have nothing to do with this incident.” In addition, Toyota China also said that the relevant certification experiments were completed under the supervision and guidance of the Chinese management department in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations to ensure that there is no need to worry about the safety and quality issues of the relevant models sold in China. At the same time, Toyota China emphasized its importance to the Chinese market and said that it will continue to strictly abide by China and provide high-quality products and services for Chinese consumers.
Toyota China said that it will closely follow the development of this incident and maintain close communication with the Japanese headquarters to ensure the provision of reassuring and satisfactory products and services to Chinese consumers.