Fake safety tests: Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu stops production Why this climate expert gives us hope in the fight against climate change

On December 20, Japanese small car manufacturer Daihatsu announced it would halt all deliveries worldwide. The reason was safety tests that had been falsified over the years by the subsidiary of the world’s largest car manufacturer Toyota, the news agencies reported.

Now the scandal is spreading: as it became known today, Daihatsu not only stopped deliveries, but also halted all production at four of its factories.

Fake accident tests

In April 2023, the Japanese automaker admitted that the crash test results of four vehicle models had been manipulated. Although the manipulation only affected cars produced in Thailand and Malaysia, an independent committee of experts took charge of the matter and investigated the matter.

The result: Daihatsu has been falsifying safety tests for decades. The Japanese government then announced an inspection of all Daihatsu factories in the country.

25 manipulated categories

In particular, the safety controls of the side impact protection and the doors were manipulated, the expert report shows. And not just for vehicles sold under the Daihatsu name.

The crash tests of models labeled Toyota, Mazda and Subaru were also falsified. This concerns a total of 64 vehicle models that have been sold since 1989, the exact names of which are not yet known.

The experts commissioned to investigate this explained that the reason for the manipulation was “extreme time pressure”. This is evident from messages from employees of the car manufacturer.

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