Transport ministry probes Daihatsu HQ amid safety testing scandal

Japan's transport ministry on Thursday conducted investigations at Daihatsu Motor Co.'s headquarters in Osaka Prefecture, a day after the small car unit of Toyota Motor Corp. was forced to halt shipments at home and abroad due to a safety test falsification scandal affecting most models in its range.

The ministry is looking into whether any production approval reports were rigged and will consider administrative penalties such as revoking approval if necessary.

"We take seriously the fact that we betrayed our customers' trust. We will fully cooperate with the inspection," a Daihatsu spokesman said.

Daihatsu said Wednesday that a third-party panel set up by the company identified 174 new instances of wrongdoing across 25 vehicle tests in addition to those already discovered, with the oldest one dating back to 1989.

The number of models affected by the falsified testing expanded to 64 -- including 15 vehicle types sold in overseas markets such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Uruguay -- from six found in April and May. It is unclear whether a recall will be required.

The company's executives said at a press conference Wednesday that it is too early to estimate the impact of the scandal on earnings and they could not provide any clarity on when shipments could resume.

The third-party panel tasked with investigating the test falsification said the company's engineers were under intense pressure to speed up vehicle development time, which led some to falsify data.

© Kyodo News