Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu to suspend operations in January

Daihatsu Motor Co. will halt shipments and suspend operations through January, as the Toyota Motor Corp. subsidiary seeks to contain the fallout of an investigation that revealed most of its vehicles weren’t properly tested for collision safety.

The maker of popular kei cars promised to compensate all 423 of the companies it directly supplies, a Daihatsu spokesperson told reporters Monday.

Japan’s transport ministry raided Daihatsu’s headquarters in Osaka last week following revelations that the carmaker manipulated the results of safety tests dating as far back as 1989. A third-party investigation requested by Daihatsu in April “- when suspected wrongdoings first emerged “- found that 174 issues have been identified across 64 models, including in some sold under the Toyota brand.

The move to suspend Daihatsu’s shipments will affect vehicles produced in Japan and overseas, and not only at Toyota factories but possibly also at Mazda Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp., given that Daihatsu provides parts and manufacturing services to a range of other automakers.

Daihatsu’s parts reach more than 4,000 entities, and it will work with the government to support them in due course, the spokesperson said.

The investigation centers around airbag control units and found that the ones used during crash tests were different from the devices used in cars that were sold to the public. While those other test units were later found to meet industry standards, side-collision test results of the Daihatsu Cast and Toyota Pixis models “may not comply with the law,” Toyota said.

Toyota said it’s not aware of any accidents or incidents related to the issue.

Daihatsu is popular for its lineup of kei cars and other lightweight vehicles popular across Japan and southeast Asia. It’s been a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota since 2016 and accounts for roughly 4 per cent of Toyota group’s global vehicle sales.