Japan orders ‘drastic reforms’ for Toyota after fresh certification violations

Tokyo Reuters —

The Japanese government ordered Toyota Motor on Wednesday to make “drastic reforms” after discovering new violations in the automaker’s vehicle certification procedures.

In a so-called corrective order, the Transport Ministry said on-site inspections had uncovered widespread, intentional misconduct and irregularities in seven additional models that had not been previously disclosed.

Toyota (TM) said the corrective order instructed it to “make drastic reforms to ensure appropriate certification operations.”

The automaker added it was in the process of confirming compliance with requirements for the models involved, and that customers did not need to stop using affected vehicles.

In July, Toyota said it had not found any new cases of wrongdoing in car model certification applications beyond the ones it had already reported in June.

Toyota and four other vehicle makers admitted in June they had submitted either flawed or manipulated data when applying for certification of vehicles.

Toyota’s wrongdoing involved three production models — the Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio and Yaris Cross — and discontinued versions of four other models, including one sold under the luxury Lexus brand.

Toyota said it was planning to resume production of these models from the beginning of September after the Transport Ministry confirmed they met compliance requirements.

Officials from Japan's Transport Ministry enter Toyota headquarters on June 4, 2024

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