Daihatsu cheats safety tests on 88,000 cars, Toyota models affected
Uh-oh! Daihatsu Motor Company, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), and the manufacturer of popular models such as the Toyota Avanza, Toyota Raize, and next generation Toyota Yaris Ativ (Vios), has admitted to having cheated in safety tests for 88,000 vehicles.
These vehicles were manufactured in Thailand and Malaysia and sold within the year in the two aforementioned countries, as well as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Indonesia, and Mexico and affects the Toyota Yaris Ativ and Agya, which will be sold as the Vios and Wigo here in the Philippines, as well as models from Perodua, a Malaysian car brand.
The car company admitted to adding components in the affected models’ door trims during testing which would make the crash test results better than they should be. The added part does not come with the production vehicles sold to customers. These would minimize the risk during testing that the door interior could break with a sharp edge and cause injuries to an occupant if the side airbags would deploy in an accident.
Toyota and Daihatsu say that tests will be conducted again with sales of the models in question resuming once they are properly certified as safe.
This new controversy comes a little over a year after Hino Motors, another subsidiary of TMC, admitted to fabricating emissions and fuel economy data on over 115,000 sold vehicles.
As to how or whether this will affect and delay the upcoming and much-awaited launches of the all-new Toyota Vios and Wigo here in the Philippines, we still don’t know at this point.
