December 20, 2023
Toyota Motor Corporation
Notice of Additional Procedural Irregularities by Daihatsu in Certification Applications,
Shipment Suspension of Vehicles Sold by Toyota,
and Responses Going Forward (as of December 17)
Toyota City, Japan, December 20, 2023Today, Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. (Daihatsu) received the investigation results of the Independent Third-Party
Committee (chaired by Makoto Kaiami) commissioned by Daihatsu regarding procedural irregularities, which it reported to Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) in turn. The investigation found new irregularities in 174 items within 25 test
categories, in addition to the door lining irregularity in April and the side collision test irregularity in May. These encompassed a total of 64 models and 3 engines of vehicles (total of models currently being produced, developed, or ceased in
production), including 22 models and 1 engine being sold by Toyota.
We would like to express our sincere apologies for the inconvenience and concern
this has caused to all stakeholders, including customers.
In response to these findings, Daihatsu decided today to temporarily suspend shipments of all
Daihatsu-developed models currently in production, both in Japan and overseas. Toyota has also decided to temporarily suspend shipments of the affected models.
Over the course of the investigation by the Independent Third-Party Committee, Daihatsu received some information regarding models that may have been involved
in the procedural irregularities. In response, Daihatsu has been conducting one-by-one in-house technical verifications and actual vehicle testing for these vehicles to ensure that their safety and environmental performance meet legal standards.
In the final stage of the investigation, it was discovered that a different airbag control unit (ECU) than the mass-production model was used for the
airbag tests for Daihatsu Move / SUBARU Stella, Daihatsu Cast /Toyota Pixis Joy, Daihatsu Gran Max / Toyota Town Ace / Mazda Bongo.
Although technical
verification confirmed that the airbag met standards of occupant protection performance, in the course of testing, it was found that the Safety Performance Standard for Occupant Evacuation (Unlocking) in the side collision test of
Daihatsu Cast / Toyota Pixis Joy may not comply with the law. At this time, we are not aware of any accident information related to this matter, but we are conducting thorough technical verification and investigating the cause to take necessary
measures as soon as possible.
For other cases, we have confirmed that the performance standards specified by the regulations are met, and the validity of
the verification results and process has also been confirmed by TUV Rheinland Japan (TRJ), a third-party certification organization.