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Japan Transportation

Nissan Workers In Japan Falsified Emissions Tests, Review Says (nytimes.com) 88

Posted by BeauHD from the data-faking dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Nissan Motor has become the latest Japanese automaker to admit to falsifying product-quality data (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source), dealing a further blow to Japan Inc.'s reputation for dependable quality. An internal review of emissions and fuel economy tests at Nissan's production plants in Japan showed that company inspectors used "altered measurement values" on emissions inspection reports, the company said in a statement on Monday. The tests also "deviated from the prescribed testing environment," it said.

The review found that all models complied with Japanese safety and emissions standards, it said. The exception was the Nissan GT-R, a two-door sports car, which the company produces too few of to comprehensively review its record, said Nick Maxfield, a Nissan spokesman, in an email. The company said the falsification problems ultimately did not affect fuel-economy findings. Nissan said that it had already started investigating the falsifications and that it had retained a Japanese law firm, Nishimura & Asahi, to lead the effort. The investigation is likely to take one month, Mr. Maxfield said. "Nissan understands and regrets the concern and inconvenience caused to stakeholders," the company said in a statement.
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Nissan Workers In Japan Falsified Emissions Tests, Review Says More

Nissan Workers In Japan Falsified Emissions Tests, Review Says

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  • Dependable Quality (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    " dealing a further blow to Japan Inc.'s reputation for dependable quality"

    Oh? Do falsified emission results have anything to do with whether the car will reliably start in the morning and get me to work? No? So that's bullshit.

    • Re:Dependable Quality (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fuzzyfuzzyfungus ( 1223518 ) on Monday July 09, 2018 @06:32PM (#56919844) Journal
      They won't have a direct effect; but do you think that a lesson in the ease and convenience of papering over engineering problems is going to do the rigor of various costly, but reliability critical, quality control measures any good?

      Quality control involves a lot of being willing to look rigorously at things that would be much less of a nuisance if you just let them slide long enough to be someone else's problem.

    • No, but the willingness to falsify data for whatever reason probably means a willingness to cut corners in order to look good on a quarterly review, i.e. a certain level of dishonesty.

      Nissan is generally regarded as inferior to the other more famous Japanese brands (Toyota and Honda) when it comes to reliability. And of course Volkswagen is hardly the poster boy for quality or reliability... at least not in modern times.

  • This why self driving cars need lot's of tests &am (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Monday July 09, 2018 @05:37PM (#56919506)

    This why self driving cars will lot's of testing and laws.

    Maybe something like the FAA code audit that is done on autopilots.

    Also rules like
    software updates must be free for at least 5 years and free means that if say a bigger SD card / ssd / etc is needed then that part + install must be free.
    No roaming fees or data fees for forced updates.
    No forced onstar unless it's free for at least 5 years
    No forced XM for data unless it's free for at least 5 years

    • Re:This why self driving cars need lot's of tests (Score:5, Funny)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Monday July 09, 2018 @05:48PM (#56919568) Journal

      This why self driving cars will lot's of testing and laws.

      Testing and peer review may also grammar problems :-)

      • The missing word is in his subject line.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Tablizer ( 95088 )

          The missing word is in his subject line.

          The subject line itself appears to be missing "is".

          No big deal, I'm just joking around. I bleep up grammar all the time myself, and slashdot offers no direct way to correct it. I suggest they at least allow a footnote-like correction section. Use a line (HR) or different font to delineate it.

      • This why self driving cars will lot's of testing and laws.

        Testing and peer review may also grammar problems :-)

        Speaking of Grammar problems... am I the only one who, the first time he read it, read the headline as:
        Nissan Workers In Japan Failed Emissions Tests, Review Says

        I'm very drowsy this morning and not functioning well.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • So do they get fined 1 Billion+ jail time like VW? Or sweot under the rug like GM

    • Re:HA HA HA (Score:5, Informative)

      by gravewax ( 4772409 ) on Monday July 09, 2018 @05:40PM (#56919522)
      unlikely, The GT-R is a high end sports car with very low volume in sales. Even if they had falsified them to hide high emissions the fine would be tiny compared to VW. however it seems the cars are compliant, just the test were originally never done, still a big deal, just not a VW level big deal.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        They had another issue last year where it turned out that the personnel doing safety checks were not qualified. It had been going on for years. Not malicious, just a cock-up where the wrong people were assigned to do the tests and no-one noticed.

        They had to re-test all affected vehicles because it was a safety issue.

    • Or hanged until the body ceases twitching, like Asahara-san. (Did anyone else know that Nippon has the death penalty??)
  • sounds like they discovered the problem internally and that the people who did it only got away with it on a low selling sports car because nobody was checking their figures due to the low sales volume. Doesn't sound anything like what VW got caught doing. Time will tell I guess, since more might come out of this.

  • dealing a further blow to Japan Inc.'s reputation for dependable quality.

    Emissions tests to newer EPA standards such as CARB3 are not about product quality; they are about passing arbitrary regulations imposed upon them by a bureaucracy ---- the ever-evolving emissions standards actually COMPROMISE product quality from the customer's point of view, since the systems have to become ever more and more complicated to reduce emissions to arbitrary benchmarks, which means they are more prone to failure

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      Of course the evolving government impositions are trending towards eventually mandating Zero emissions, which will essentially mean that all Combustion engines are going to be banned, and the most prone to failure equipment possible will be required to satisfy them: in other words, immature new technologies such as All-Electric or Alternative fuel.

      You were mostly right up until that last part. Yes, eventually you will have to replace the battery pack, which most EV owners consider to be a consumable in muc

  • So was it just the GTR? (Score:3)

    by omfglearntoplay ( 1163771 ) on Monday July 09, 2018 @06:08PM (#56919686)

    GTRs are more than sportscars, they are supercars. They are often supercars that beat other supercars 3 times their price. I have the feeling this fudge factor was keeping the costs down and performance up... not sure GTR owners are going to be upset. However, I prefer my manufacturers to keep it honest. Japanese culture is all about the environment... they'll take the small amount of heat from the press in Japan is my guess.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Well, the GT-R is already in the worst bracket for emissions anyway... Also the engines are hand made and signed by the person who built them, so I'd imagine they have been extensively tested and tuned anyway, before the final emissions test.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )
        Further more, this wasn't a cheat device like the VW/Audi saga. Emissions testing in Japan operates on the "honour system" as the Americans would say. So they rely on the manufacturers doing their own tests and reporting them. This is far from the first time a Japanese company has been caught slightly misrepresenting the numbers either. Emissions ratings in the US or Europe will still be determined by testing.

  • Can't falsify emissions for that.

    Adapt. The world cares nothing for your excuses, as we return to conditions suitable only for dinosaurs, not for humans.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      Your long tailpipe is making quite a racket as it drags on the pavement.

      • Your long tailpipe is making quite a racket as it drags on the pavement.

        Pretty sure my work and my home are close and both served by wind and solar power. But continue with your 1980s view of how the world works, grandpa.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LesFerg ( 452838 )

      You don't think consumers will want valid non-falsified facts about their electric cars too?
      Won't they care about kilometers per kilowatt, or the expected lifetime of the power cells?
      There will always be some aspect of a consumable product to exaggerate about or otherwise misrepresent,

      • You don't think consumers will want valid non-falsified facts about their electric cars too? Won't they care about kilometers per kilowatt, or the expected lifetime of the power cells?

        I would welcome this, and don't imagine this will show electric vehicles in a poor light. My 4 year old Nissan Leaf shows no significant battery degradation, and can still achieve better range than the official US Environmental Protection Agency figures. The manufacturers' figures are always an exaggeration, but the real-world carbon emissions of electric cars are still about a third of a fossil-fuel powered equivalent - and will only get better as electricity generation gets greener.

  • My brother had a powerful Impala a couple decades ago, and there was a way to jack up the performance going third party. As I recall, he did the work himself. Roll the cars off the line in compliance, and publish the relevant information to override the emissions system.

    • Re: Make the control system modular (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Reminds me of prohibition and the "wine bricks" workaround:

      https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/how-wine-bricks-saved-the-u-s-wine-industry-during-prohibition/

  • ... don't buy this car for it's fuel economy. Nobody is going to be heartbroken over a few MPGs that turned out to be nonexistent.

  • I purchased a Nissan Versa, rated at 38 MPG HWY. I have an approximately 100 mile daily commute largely over highway and back-country roads. (In otherwords, few stoplights, thought some areas of highway congestion.) Over two years, I averaged around 35.5 MPG - approximately 93% of expected HWY mileage. Not bad...

    So I upgraded to a Nissan Rogue, rated at 31HWY / 25CITY, and a combined 27MPG. Same commute...and I averaged 23.5MPG, 75% of the rated HWY mileage. Even more abysmal, is the fact that I only man

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