The company used a non-production navigation unit in occupant safety testing of its minivans.
- Toyota Motor Corp. found irregularities during type-approval testing of seven additional vehicle models.
- Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism forced the company to suspend production of two small vans sold in the local market.
Toyota Motor admitted in an official statement that in addition to a number of previous safety tests on production models of Toyota, Honda, Mazda and Suzuki, seven other models had violations during the tests.
Following an earlier announcement in June 2024, an on-site investigation by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) found additional irregularities in Toyota’s operations.
More: Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Suzuki cheat on emissions and safety tests, some Japanese car sales suspended
The company violated the regulations by not using a production navigation display in occupant protection tests on the Toyota Noah / Voxy and Suzuki Landy minivans (2021). Non-production parts were also used in safety tests on the Toyota Harrier (front door inner bracket) and Lexus LM (rear door lining) held in 2022. Violations were also found in the type approval of the Toyota Camry / Daihatsu Altis (2017), Toyota RAV4 (2017), Lexus RX (2015) and Toyota Prius a / Daihatsu Mebius (2014).
As most of the affected models are sold in overseas markets and/or have been discontinued, Toyota claims that existing owners “do not need to stop using them”. However, the company was forced to suspend production and deliveries of the Noah and Voxy minivans from July 29, as these models are sold in the Japanese market. Toyota plans to resume production “as soon as possible” after authorities confirm that they meet the standards.
The latest generation of Toyota’s Noah (above) and Voxy (below) minivans.
In response to the previous suspension of production since June 3, Toyota announced that after the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism confirmed that it met the standards, Toyota Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio and Yaris Cross will resume shipments in the Japanese market in early September. Automotive News reported that the suspension caused Toyota’s global production to fall by 13% in June last year and may affect quarterly earnings (April to June).
Toyota believes that the accident occurred due to the following “on-site and management” factors:
- The internal operating rules for preparing the documents required for certification applications are unclear.
- Clarification and management of resources required for the certification process are inadequate.
- There is insufficient awareness of the importance of certification work.
- Lack of understanding and involvement of management/executives in the entire certification process.
As part of its statement, Toyota issued an apology: “We deeply regret that we did not carry out the certification work correctly and apologize to our stakeholders for any concern or inconvenience this may have caused them.” The company promised to review its operations and improve its infrastructure with more accurate data management to prevent similar problems from happening in the future.
Below, you can see the full list of violations found following an investigation into Toyota’s Japanese factories.
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