Toyota-owned Automaker Halts Japan Production After Admitting It Tampered With Safety Tests for 30 Years (cnn.com) 48
Daihatsu, the Japanese automaker owned by Toyota, has halted domestic production after admitting it forged the results of safety tests for its vehicles for more than 30 years. From a report: The brand, best known for manufacturing small passenger cars, has stopped output at all four of its Japanese factories as of Tuesday, including one at its headquarters in Osaka, a spokesperson told CNN. The shutdown will last through at least the end of January, affecting roughly 9,000 employees who work in domestic production, according to the representative.
The move comes as Daihatsu grapples with a deepening safety scandal that Toyota says "has shaken the very foundations of the company." Last week, Daihatsu announced an independent third-party committee had found evidence of tampering with safety tests on as many as 64 vehicle models, including those sold under the Toyota brand. As a result, Daihatsu said it would temporarily suspend all domestic and international vehicle shipments and consult with authorities on how to move forward.
The scandal is another blow to the automaker, which had admitted in April to violating standards on crash tests on more than 88,000 cars, mostly sold under the Toyota brand in countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. In that case, "the inside lining of the front seat door was improperly modified" for some checks, while Daihatsu did not comply with regulatory requirements for certain side collision tests, it said in a statement at the time.
The move comes as Daihatsu grapples with a deepening safety scandal that Toyota says "has shaken the very foundations of the company." Last week, Daihatsu announced an independent third-party committee had found evidence of tampering with safety tests on as many as 64 vehicle models, including those sold under the Toyota brand. As a result, Daihatsu said it would temporarily suspend all domestic and international vehicle shipments and consult with authorities on how to move forward.
The scandal is another blow to the automaker, which had admitted in April to violating standards on crash tests on more than 88,000 cars, mostly sold under the Toyota brand in countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. In that case, "the inside lining of the front seat door was improperly modified" for some checks, while Daihatsu did not comply with regulatory requirements for certain side collision tests, it said in a statement at the time.
Re: but (Score:2)
Re: but (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: but (Score:2)
Geely is selling cars here right now under the Volvo marque. They are in no danger of conquering the market.
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SAIC Motor (state-owned Chinese) sells cars rebranded MG. See MG5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] . It's sold in USA according to press: "MG Returns With An Affordable EV America Needs" https://carbuzz.com/news/mg-re... [carbuzz.com]
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MG is an old UK brand. It failed decades ago due to crap quality - it was British after all. The new revived MG is doing quite well there, with affordable and pretty good EVs.
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They will.
And now we can't even say that buying Chinese crap only means that you're playing with your life.
You already are. So you don't forgo safety, you just gain cheapness.
Re:but (Score:5, Interesting)
OK troll, I'll bite (exception to the rule).
What about China? They make shit products in a country where corruption is beyond anything we can conceive. They do make some good products, but those are rare and mostly for western countries that maintain a strong watch on quality. The occasional cherry picked exceptions don't change the fact.
One area that people easily overlook unless it affects them are things like piping. In Canada (I know from experience in Toronto and Vancouver), there are condo buildings (from low rise to high rise) where the pipes are failing and causing floods, and requiring near complete replacement. I'm talking after only 10 years plus or minus a couple. And I'm talking copper and iron pipe for uses like water supply and sprinkler systems. The condo builders went with lowest price bids which turned out to be from Chinese suppliers. The pipe from China is almost universally dog shit, meeting the barest minimum needs to allow installation, but does not last. Pipe from North America for these purposes typically lasts for 30 or 40 years or longer. The Chinese alloys (too brittle, prone to wear, etc), purities, wall thicknesses, etc etc etc are all sub par. I've been in two buildings in both these cities that have had failure due to shit Chinese piping. I have known people from several reputable contracting companies who have noted the same cause, shitty Chinese pipes. And besides the buildings I lived in, I know and hear about many more of the same issues every year (in a condo heavy environment built by the same players all the time, it's not surprising). A friend of mine is currently dealing with a flood in her building from this issue right now.
And it doesn't just go for pipes, but all industrial steel products. Now I think Trump is the biggest cunt in the world aside from his buddy Putin, but the rules he was trying to bring in that would limit steel from Canada was understandable. Mainly because our current government (pro-Chinese Trudeau... he actually admitted on camera that he admired their government) we have Chinese based companies dumping inferior industrial steel product in our country, much of it being re-exported to the USA through these Canadian fronts for Chinese companies. That steel is absolute crap in quality. Remember however, steel actually made in Canadian mills is top quality, but more expensive because like in the USA, it isn't made by near slave labour wages and working conditions.
In short, the worst that Japan can do is still miles above what is normal in China. The worst thing that happened for the western economy is when Clinton signed off on most favoured trading nation status for China, on what I am sure was on behalf of his fellow Arkansas supporters, the Walton family (i.e. Walmart). Hillary was a corporate lawyer for them for a good while and also on their board of directors. In case people want to look back fondly on that turd. FYI, I live in the USA for the better part of a decade and paid a lot of tax but couldn't vote, so I do have a right to speak on what happens there since I didn't have representation.
Re:but (Score:4, Interesting)
maintain a strong watch on quality
And this is the real issue with Chinese product. China is perfectly capable of producing the finest product in the world. The problem is nobody wants to buy it from them so the only investment ends up being from local government assigned contracts or Western companies offshoring production. Why buy from China when you can get the exact same thing for a comparable price from Europe, Japan, or NA. China still has issues when competing in the market of high quality products.
Where China excels is in their ability to create products at low cost. Optimized production, limited environmental regulations, cheap electricity, solid infrastructure, and reasonable labour costs -- they can build at scale and on a budget. And as such, the demand for low margin, crap products is typically satisfied by Chinese companies. Some of this stuff doesn't even get sold in China because it's crap - and we still buy it.
So it all depends on demand. We are getting crap from China because that is what we are demanding. Hard to blame the Chinese for satisfying our demands. In time, Chinese companies creating quality products will start to stand out from the rest. But it takes time and we are not there yet. Until then one should be cautious (but not avoid) purchasing from China. Going cheap can be really expensive...
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The pipe from China is almost universally dog shit, meeting the barest minimum needs to allow installation, but does not last. Pipe from North America for these purposes typically lasts for 30 or 40 years or longer. The Chinese alloys (too brittle, prone to wear, etc), purities, wall thicknesses, etc etc etc are all sub par. I've been in two buildings in both these cities that have had failure due to shit Chinese piping.
This is an issue with the standards and inspection. If the spec says "the pipe shall last no less than 10 years", the 10 year pipe is installed leak free, the inspector certifies it was installed leak free and should last 10 years; then the problem is with the standards. Not the Chinese. Not the builder. Maybe the buyers, assuming the builder pointed out "the pipes in the wall, ya know, the ones that carry your upstairs neighbor's shit past your floor? They should last a good 10 years" and the buyer wa
That's it! (Score:2)
We're selling the Camry!
In other news . . . (Score:3)
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That's right dude, and your F150 is a death trap if an artic ploughs into you, so we should all be driving something bigger than an artic.
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I think the point is that you can't base the safety of the vehicle based on its weight versus other cars on the road. You could easily just go the other way and ban larger vehicles for the danger they pose. Otherwise you're just arguing for vehicles to weigh more and use more fuel for no benefit other than protection from the bigger car.
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I read how you thought this lightweight vehicle would fare against an F150.
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Artic: a type of fox. More commonly spelled "arctic".
Now you know.
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That's just an F2/350, already common.
Buy safety against the 98%, not the 99.9999%
Re:Like You Couldn't Tell (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe America shouldn't be talking about death traps even when taking this story into account
On a per capita basis, Japan had just 2.24 deaths per 100,000 residents, less than a fifth the US rate of 12.7 per 100,000.
What Drove Japan's Remarkable Traffic Safety Turnaround [bloomberg.com]
U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high [npr.org]
Someone in my neighborhood just got a new Chevy 2500, it's very nice looking but I am 5'7" and I literally put my chin on the hood, it's absolutely ridiculous.
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I suspect less to do with the vehicle, than a combination of other factors. 1) DUI deaths 2017 stats Japan 5.6%, U.S. 29%, 2) Distance to travel. Japan is about the same size as California. Population density Japan 876/sq mi, California 258/sq mi, U.S. 96/sq mi. The U.S. has much larger distances to travel with much lower population density, which leads to two things at a minimum: Faster travel speeds on average and greater probability of losing concentration while driving across large chunks of sparsely p
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Sure, I am certainly not going to discount this is a multivariate issue, I was responding in kind to a silly argument.
Yeah Americans probably drive longer and faster on average but our choice of vehicle absolutely contributes to the higher death counts, that's also why i pointed our our recent spike in pedestrian deaths, our regulations around sightlines are far more lax, we drive far heavier vehicles and you DUI example is really an issue of American attitudes combines with our lack of transit, it's not li
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The main things are low speed limits, good visibility, and shared spaces.
Urban speed limits are typically 20-30 mph (about 20 mph max). You can't park on the road, so visibility is excellent. Things can't emerge from between parked cars or behind big vans because there aren't any.
Many roads don't have a separate pavement (sidewalk). Or if they do, it's very small. So drivers are forced to expect pedestrians in the road, and drive accordingly. A lack of road markings like lane dividers has been shown to impr
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2) Distance to travel. Japan is about the same size as California. Population density Japan 876/sq mi, California 258/sq mi, U.S. 96/sq mi.
This point always comes up and it's basically irrelevant. You ain't driving from Fluffy Landings to Humptulips daily. 95% of journeys are under 30 miles:
https://www.energy.gov/eere/ve... [energy.gov]
The problem the US has is a combination of poor road design, poor safety laws and escalation of car sizes.
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It's completely relevant. You may not be driving from A to B daily, but deaths on interstates do occur and many times it is due to fatigue (or unexpected obstacles like deer, antelope, or escaped cattle or sheep trying to beat you across the highway or just standing there looking dumb). In some parts of the country it's a matter of coming over a blind hill or around a blind turn and having a slow moving tractor right in front of you, although rarely on an interstate. All can lead to deaths.
All of these d
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It's completely relevant. You may not be driving from A to B daily, but deaths on interstates
https://usafacts.org/articles/... [usafacts.org]
"The most dangerous roadways are urban arterial roads, which include multilane highways, freeways, and other roads that connect the urban interstate system"
Those are the astonishingly poorly designed stroads which invite accidents and traffic deaths.
"The Interstate Highway System had the lowest number of fatalities, despite having the highest average speed limits. This is true regard
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Don't care. I'd take one of these [fedlegalimports.com] if the other option is a cargo bicycle.
We have a JDM used car dealership in town and these sell like hotcakes. As long as you don't mind sitting on the wrong side to drive.
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Maybe you should learn how to properly drive your F150 if slamming into things is a problem.
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I read it more as German. As in "Dai hat zu" (Dai is closed).
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And they have zu, in Germany at least, 10 years ago.
Company Culture (Score:5, Interesting)
They were acquired by Toyota in 2016. Obviously Toyota didn't think to check into this because they would normally care how this hurts their image. Just buying another company is never a simple matter.
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Re: Company Culture (Score:2)
Just love how Bosch, who did all the engineering, on all these different emission systems that were cheated, walked away unscathed...
Odd. They didn't announce this on Christmas Eve (Score:4, Insightful)
The traditional day for admitting things that you want to get out with as little long term impact as possible. But perhaps I'm thinking as a Westerner - and for the Japanese the New Year is far more important.
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Except on Christmas Eve in Japan everyone was too busy out getting KFC, including the PR office at Daihatsu.
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This was on Japanese TV news a few days ago, so it was saying Xmas. But that's not a holiday in Japan, it's just a normal working day.
Many companies have a production break at new year, to do inventory and other housekeeping. It might be too coincide with that.
This shouldn't be a surprise... (Score:2)
Tests not done by outsiders are worthless (Score:3)