Toyota is taking the rigged safety test of its Daihatsu-based models seriously that Akio Toyoda himself, visited the carmaker’s production base in Thailand to personally express his apology to customers, dealers, employees, and even the authorities.
Toyoda, who currently serves as Toyota Motor Corporation’s Chairman and Representative Director also took the opportunity to provide assurance on the quality of the all-new Vios (aka Yaris Ativ in Thailand). He assures that that the vehicle meets all the necessary safety regulations, and that customers can continue to use the vehicles without worry.
Chairman Toyoda also commented, “Toyota is a company where, whenever a problem occurs, everyone stops, seeks the true cause, and works to improve and prevent recurrence. This is the Toyota philosophy that we have cherished since the company’s founding. I myself will take the lead in returning to this philosophy once again and promote group-wide efforts.”
Masahiko Maeda, Chief Executive Officer of Asia Region, added, “There are three steps before a vehicle reaches a customer: development, certification and sales. We would like to assure customers that there were no issues for the safety and quality of the car during ‘development’ process. This is an issue about the next step, certification, where procedural irregularity was discovered, which we take seriously and have taken actions to resolve.”
Toyota has also provided an update surrounding the issue.
Daihatsu, which is responsible for the upper body development and certification of the all-new Vios / Yaris Ativ, consulted with independent third-party inspection and certification authority, Vincotte. Vincotte confirmed that there is no need for modification or any action for existing vehicles and that the vehicles running in the market comply with the safety standards and can be used as normal. The carmaker will not be conducting any recall on affected units.
Considering that fact, Toyota also conducted a confirmation test of a Thai-spec mass production vehicle in the presence of a third-party testing agency, who validated that it meets safety requirements, including RN-R95—the one Daihatsu was caught cheating on.
With an extension of the Vios’ UN-R95 certification, shipment and sales of the sub-compact sedan will resume.
Taking/owning responsibility is a noble act. Kudos to Mr. Akio Toyoda.
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