Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) revoked the model certifications of three vehicles produced by Daihatsu.
This latest chapter in the Daihatsu scandal (sure to be a Netflix documentary soon), affects Daihatsu Gran Max and two other models with which Daihatsu has OE supply agreements with: Toyota (Town Ace Truck) and Mazda (Bongo).
The revocation has no bearing on vehicles already on the road, but it means Daihatsu cannot produce these vehicles nor sell those whose assembly has been completed (including those sitting at dealer lots).
It must be cleared that the revocation is only valid for the Japan market. For now, this has no bearing on the Philippines where the Toyota Town Ace, manufactured in Indonesia, is sold as the Lite Ace.
In the MLIT’s investigation, they found that Daihatsu tampered with the airbags so that they inflated automatically with a timer, although they are meant to inflate when a crash is detected by a sensor.
This is the latest in a string of disasters for Daihatsu which has been embroiled in a door lining and side-impact crash test on selected models. After that, 174 more irregularities were discovered in 25 test categories.
Models produced from Indonesia were later cleared for sale and export, however, Toyota Motor Philippines did issue a safety-related service campaign on select Veloz and Avanza models due to its side-impact beam weld.
Toyota will consider a drastic reform of Daihatsu, which is expected to announce a new management team by next month.
Does this confirm the rumors that Daihatsu (and in part, Toyota) have been conniving to provide substandard products to the world for a long time now? What will be the LONG-TERM effect to existing owners in PH? Will there be other "service advisories" aka. recall? Some businesses who bought the lite ace are worried they wont get a good ROI on their workhorses.
ReplyDeleteThis just keeps getting worse. Toyota is sleeping on the job. Sitting cozily on their laurels. Now the brand is taking a bad rap (running into the hundreds), the universe is taking them down a few pegs for a reality check. They are still a global leader in many ways but the writing is on the wall: if you get too careless, other players are waiting in the wings to take your place. Daihatsu is your biggest gift yet to your competitors.
ReplyDeleteDaihatsu Granmax/Toyota Liteace are 17 year old commercial vehicles meant for 3rd world countries
ReplyDeleteToyota should finally replace these and produce a much safer and newer successor
The problem with this segment is that the people who buy these only care about cost and nothing else. That's why even the newer LCVs like the Suzuki Carry and Isuzu Traviz don't have any 21st centure safety features or modern crash structures, because if they did, people will not buy them sadly because of cost.
DeleteJapan government lifts shipment ban on 5 Daihatsu models - The ministry announced on Friday that it lifted the shipment suspension order on Daihatsu's Gran Max, the company's ProBox and Town Ace sold by Toyota and its Familia Van and Bongo sold by Mazda, saying it has confirmed that the models meet regulations.
ReplyDeletewww3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240119_25/
Those vehicles are based on two decade old platforms
DeleteBox type Hiace is 20 years old this year and Daihatsu Granmax/Liteace is 17 years old now.