Justice breaks into a Toyota factory and interrogates workers for emissions fraud

The Japanese Ministry of Transportation today sent a team to a factory of Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO), a subsidiary of the automotive giant Toyotawithin the framework of the investigation of irregularities in emissions and power tests of several engines installed in a dozen of its vehicles.

The team moved this Tuesday to the TICO factory in the city of Hekinan, in the center of the country, where He was interrogating employees to get to the bottom of the fraud in the tests to obtain the necessary certification to produce and market its engines, as detailed by the public broadcaster NHK.

These irregularities “are extremely regrettable, because they undermine the confidence of users of industrial machinery and automobiles. It also shakes the foundations of the automobile certification system,” said Japanese Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito today.

Saito assured that the Government will take appropriate measures based on the results of the investigation of his portfolio.

The Toyota group announced the day before the discovery of irregularities in TICO, which affect the certification tests of an engine for industrial machinery already power tests of three diesel engines installed in different vehicles, specifically in ten of its models.

Among them are vehicles widely known in Argentina, such as the Hilux pickup and the SW4 SUV, which are manufactured in Zárate. Models such as the Hiace, the Land Cruiser Prado and the Land Cruiser 300 also appear.

consulted by Clarionthe local subsidiary of the brand clarified that “this problem does not affect any vehicle produced and/or marketed in Argentina.”

And they added that “this matter is related to irregularities in the certification process based on local requirements in certain countries, but they do not have any impact on the power, torque or other actual values ​​​​related to the vehicle’s powertrain. Furthermore, “These irregularities do not compromise the emissions or safety of the vehicles.”

Toyota ha Temporarily suspended global shipping of engines and models equipped with them, as well as production on six lines in four of its national factories until February 1, although it has verified in subsequent additional tests that all meet legal standards and their use does not entail any danger.

The irregularities consisted of the fact that during the certification tests, TICO measured the engine’s power performance using different software than that used in mass production, yielding results that presented fewer variations.

The Toyota group has been affected by a series of cases of irregularities in vehicle quality controls. The most recent was that of its micro vehicle subsidiary Daihatsu, which paralyzed its global shipments after it was discovered that the safety or emissions tests of most of its models were manipulated.

In March 2022, another of its subsidiaries, Hino Motors, admitted to having submitted fraudulent emissions and fuel economy data to Japanese authorities.

In light of these revelations, the former president of Toyota and current honorary president of the group, Akio Toyodaappeared today at a press conference to apologize for what happened and assure that the conglomerate (now made up of 17 companies) will take measures to return to the path and vision that it seems to have asked for.

“What I need to do now is show the direction the group should take and create a place for the next generations,” Toyoda said, calling on the group’s companies to address apparent governance problems and avoid recurrences.

The emergence of Japanese justice at the Toyota plant occurs on the same day that it is known that the company was once again the best-selling automobile manufacturer in the world.

During 2023, it sold more than 11.2 million vehicles worldwide accounting for all its brands, which represents a new annual record for the industry leader.

The figure, which includes sales of Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino, reflects a progression of 7.2% compared to 2022.

In 2020, Toyota recovered the symbolic title of world sales leader in the automotive sector compared to the German group Volkswagen, which last year was in second position with 9.24 million vehicles sold.

The Japanese manufacturer is still lagging behind in the 100% electric vehicle segment, with only 104,018 vehicles of this type marketed in 2023.

The figure quadruples that of the previous year, but is tiny compared to the benchmarks in this sector such as the American Tesla (1.81 million) or the Chinese BYD (1.57 million).

For now, Toyota compensates for this weakness with the dynamism of the hybrid vehicle market, with more than 3.4 million units sold in 2023, which represents an increase of 31.4% year-on-year.