The automotive world was shocked by what happened to Daihatsu and Toyota. The cause was that Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. allegedly falsified data on side crash test results from a number of its models being marketed to Toyota Motor Corp.
Through its official statement, Friday evening, April 28 2023 local time, Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd admitted that they had modified the inside of the door to manipulate the side crash test data.
The door actually during a crash test could cause it to break and injure the driver or passenger when the side airbag deploys in the event of an impact. But Daihatsu added a component to minimize the risk of the shards during testing.
Daihatsu manipulation for Toyota Vios to All New Agya 2023
Still through its official statement, Daihatsu admits that this mistake was made for around 88,000 car units that will be marketed by Toyota to several countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Among other things, the Toyota Yaris Ativ (All New Vios) is produced in Thailand and Malaysia for the Thai and Mexican markets. Then for the Perodua Axia (Daihatsu Ayla 2023) which is produced in Malaysia for the needs of the domestic market. As well as the Toyota Agya 2023 which is produced in Indonesia for the Ecuador market.
Another unit that is also allegedly affected by this case is the Toyota Yaris Cross for the Southeast Asian market which is also being developed by Daihatsu. This model will reportedly become a 7-seater SUV for ASEAN countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. However, due to this case, Toyota immediately stopped the development process.
Toyota Stops Production of Vios and Agya
Following up on Daihatsu's announcement, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda and CEO Koji Sato immediately held an emergency press conference in Japan. Toyoda apologized to the public, and also stopped production of a number of models developed with Daihatsu.
"The mistake made by Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. was a matter concerning safety, which is the most important aspect of a vehicle. We regard this as an absolutely unacceptable act that betrayed the trust of our customers. We would like to sincerely apologize to our customers. us around the world and all related parties for the inconvenience and concern caused," said Toyoda, in his official statement quoted from Marketscreener.
Toyoda also revealed that his party would carry out further investigations, especially for all models that work with Daihatsu. And later the results of the thorough investigation will be announced to the public.
"I personally promise our customers that Toyota will not run away, lie or distort facts. We consider this a serious problem that occurs in our group of companies," he said.
Is it Dangerous for Consumers?
Daihatsu's acknowledgment is actually a form of responsibility from the international standard of the United Nations (UN) for side collision safety protection. This standard is known as UNECE R95, equivalent to the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) adopted by the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) in the Middle East.
The inner door panel should be installed with additional components to prevent the door panel from breaking and causing sharp cuts that could injure passengers. So, this component was not installed by Daihatsu on its production model, only installed during a crash test.
Diahatsu said that consumers can still use their vehicles as usual. While Toyota promised to carry out further investigations for other actions. And because this announcement just took place in Japan, they will immediately follow up with UMW Toyota Motor Thailand, as well as Perodua in Malaysia.
