Toyota Apologizes For Cheating On Vehicle Testing, Halts Production of 3 Models (apnews.com) 45
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda apologized Monday for massive cheating on certification tests for seven vehicle models as the automaker suspended production of three of them. The wide-ranging fraudulent testing at Japan's top automaker involved the use of inadequate or outdated data in collision tests, and incorrect testing of airbag inflation and rear-seat damage in crashes. Engine power tests were also found to have been falsified.
Toyota Motor Corp., based in Toyota city, central Japan, suspended production in the country of the Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio and Yaris Cross. The deceptive tests were also found on discontinued models. The company said the wrongdoing does not affect the safety of the vehicles already on roads, which include the Corolla subcompact and Lexus luxury vehicles. "We sincerely apologize," Toyoda told reporters, bowing deeply and holding the position for several seconds, as is customary in Japan at news conferences where companies apologize for misbehavior. A Japanese government investigation into Toyota began in January. The issue does not affect Toyota's overseas production. Mazda and Honda also reported cheating on its vehicle testing. Mazda said incorrect engine control software was used in the tests.
Meanwhile, the "improper tests" conducted by Honda included "those on noise levels and torque, on a range of models," according to the Associated Press. "Honda said affected older models -- the Accord, Odyssey and Fit -- are no longer in production. The safety of the vehicles is not affected, it said."
Toyota Motor Corp., based in Toyota city, central Japan, suspended production in the country of the Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio and Yaris Cross. The deceptive tests were also found on discontinued models. The company said the wrongdoing does not affect the safety of the vehicles already on roads, which include the Corolla subcompact and Lexus luxury vehicles. "We sincerely apologize," Toyoda told reporters, bowing deeply and holding the position for several seconds, as is customary in Japan at news conferences where companies apologize for misbehavior. A Japanese government investigation into Toyota began in January. The issue does not affect Toyota's overseas production. Mazda and Honda also reported cheating on its vehicle testing. Mazda said incorrect engine control software was used in the tests.
Meanwhile, the "improper tests" conducted by Honda included "those on noise levels and torque, on a range of models," according to the Associated Press. "Honda said affected older models -- the Accord, Odyssey and Fit -- are no longer in production. The safety of the vehicles is not affected, it said."
so much dishonor! (Score:3)
so much dishonor!
Re:so much dishonor! (Score:5, Funny)
Akio Toyoda needs to commit Sudoku!
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Apologizes? (Score:2)
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in japan with an big japanese corporation?
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That probably is criminal behavior. Will just apologizing get people off the hook in such cases? Or is it that the law is not the same when you are a big corporation?
Big corps have the best laws money can buy
Re:Apologizes? (Score:5, Insightful)
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This is Japan. He's apologizing for corporation losing face. Stop projecting anglo morality on those that don't have it.
Re:Apologizes? (Score:5, Interesting)
He's apologizing for getting caught,
Is he? The article's actually unclear on that front. An investigation is mentioned [apnews.com], but it's suggested that was triggered by the company reporting cheating they had found [apnews.com].
It sounds like lower level management/personnel felt pressure to hit various deadlines & targets and cheated as a result. Then when upper management found out they put a stop to it and reported it.
That's not to let upper management off the hook, they created the culture and incentives that drove their underlings to cheat.
But it's not fair to say he's only apologizing for getting caught when he's the one who reported it when it was brought to his attention.
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There were a few high profile examples of lower level employees breaking rules because of pressure from above, so Japanese upper management are now somewhat on the lookout for it. In Toyota's case it could have been very serious if the falsified tests had resulted in injuries.
Probably the most well known example was a train driver who exceeded the speed limit due to management pressure. As well as reprimands and loss of pay, drivers who were late more than a few times had to do humiliating re-training cours
Bus drivers in Madison, WI (Score:2)
The mayor has been on a pedestrian safety compaign involving lowering speed limits on all major arterial streets.
I get tailgated by buses when driving at the new speed limits. I seriously doubt schedules were adjusted nor drivers were instructed to not meet schedule so they could keep to the speed limits.
Will there be a major political scandal when someone is hurt by a speeding Madison Metro bus?
Nah, the Fix is in.
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well if the bus drops under 50 then bad things happen.
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He's apologizing for getting caught,
That is still a huge improvement over the deny getting caught and then throw some low ranking engineers under the bus to save the C-levels and their bonuses.... the kind of behaviour we see from western companies.
They've also halted production of the vehicles in question until they can be tested properly. Something you don't expect from western car companies.
I mean GM waited until 17 people died from faulty ignitions before investigating and don't even get me started on Volkswagen.
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Or is it that the law is not the same when you are a big corporation?
Bingo. Y'all mod OP up.
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Maybe Toyota did too..
It works for nuclear disasters (Score:2)
Non-original insight. (Score:2)
Water is wet.
News at 11.
What is Cheating? (Score:2)
I would be interested to hear about what exactly they did.
Were they just gaming the tests, or reporting bad data?
Re:What is Cheating? (Score:5, Informative)
I'll go ahead and paste most of it here, since that's what slashdot summaries are:
Re:What is Cheating? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What is Cheating? (Score:5, Insightful)
To me it looks like some might be honest mistakes and some might be cheating a bit. Nothing anywhere near to the level of the VW "dieselgate" stuff.
Re:What is Cheating? (Score:5, Insightful)
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The fact that many of the tests seem to have been under harsher conditions than required suggests that it was a mistake. If they were trying to cheat then why would they use a more difficult test?
When did we lose touch with down-to-earth values? (Score:2)
"Toyota Motor Corp., based in Toyota city"
Another item for my list of criteria for presumptive evidence of the necessity of immediate investigation of corporate entities: Is your corporate headquarters located on a street named after your company? In a TOWN named after your company? IN A PROVINCE named after your company?! If so: you better believe that's an investigatin'.
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Costco's house brand name is Kirkland. Costco got its start in .....
.. Kirkland.
Those lousy bastards!
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I would be shocked if it happened today, say Seattle -> Microsoft City. I am less shocked knowing it happened in 1959, and in a country known for its deep sense of loyalty towards their employer. A similar pattern happened with a "Ford City" neighbourhood in Chicago, named after a Ford City Mall, itself named after a former Ford Aircraft plant. Times were different.
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I would be shocked if it happened today, say Seattle -> Microsoft City.
Seattle is a major city. At the time Toyota City changed its name it was a small town with a population of a tad over 100k. The scale is different, odds are you ran into an adult in the street they would have been working for Toyota.
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In 1959, after a public campaign to change the city’s name to highlight its commitment to modern industry and to recognize the contribution of its largest employer, Koromo officially became Toyota.
https://www.tourismtoyota.jp/e... [tourismtoyota.jp]
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Another item for my list of criteria for presumptive evidence of the necessity of immediate investigation of corporate entities
Why investigate the corporation? It was the town who changed their name to celebrate the fame of the town's most famous family and proudly one of international fame ... right during the period where Japan was focused heavily on internationalisation.
As for the "street named after your company". That is normal. In the manufacturing industry many streets are built exclusively to support the plant where they are built, which is why they get the name of the company. Which makes it even funnier when the company g
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This is a Japan only issue. According to the story, none of these issues impact overseas models.
"Lucky" roller test stand in Ann Arbor, MI (Score:2)
A research engineer who had worked for the EPA told of how "one of the second-tier Japanese car companies" always requested one of the roller tests stands used for emissions certification in the U.S., where the EPA gas mileage numbers also come from.
Turns out this stand was badly out of calibration.
Was this auto maker guilty of big-bad-business-ism? This one was on the EPA and didn't make the news.
I mean really. It is if some Slashdot geek wrote to his local police department, "I drive past this st
We lied when testing discontinued models... (Score:2)
But nothing we currently produce is affected - we promise! On our word of honor! You can trust us!
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Double checked by Boeing inspectors?
Anyone going to jail for this? (Score:1)
Toyota on the downslope (Score:3)
This is Toyota on the downslope, owned by shareholders more concerned with wringing every dividend penny out of it today than anything that happens tomorrow, and so the entire executive lineup on down gets slowly eaten up by brown nosing narcissists telling the shareholders exactly what they want to hear until the whole thing goes Boeing.
Bingo (Score:2)
Yep. Toyota is already doomed.
Apologies are cheap (Score:2)
I would love to see legislation that forces car companies that do this to forfeit an entire year's worth of profits. And by the way, all the gains that investors in the company made that year? Guess what - they're forfeit too.
Draconian as such measures seem, they are the only way of making psychopathic corporations behave responsibly. It's long, long past time for the dog to take back control of the tail.
Engine recall too (Score:2)
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If they did the same thing to electric cars, they would create a "fleet average range" metric and require range to increase 20% every year, battery mass to decrease 10% every year, regenerative braking to reach 103% by 2030, and charging time to hit 10 minutes by 2027. End result would be the only electric cars you can buy would be super expensive, unreliable, companies would cheat to try to
fails to mention (Score:2)
Of course, like all the other media, fails to mention that this related ONLY to Japanese govt mandated testing, and only applied to models sold only in Japan.