Loading
Search
▼ Nissan Says it Kept Using Uncertified Staff After Revealing Misconduct
- Category:Driving
TOKYO -Nissan Motor Co kept using uncertified staff for vehicle inspections at one of its plants even after the company revealed such misconduct, which led to a massive recall, company sources said Wednesday.
Nissan reported the mishandling of safety checks to the government and temporarily ceased vehicle shipments from the plant, they said.
According to Nissan, an internal probe last Wednesday found that uncertified staff were checking steering wheels in a final inspection at its subsidiary's plant in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo. Around 3,800 units were subject to this inspection.
The company said it does not plan to recall vehicles shipped from the plant, saying certified staff later verified readings of testing equipment.
Earlier in the month, the automaker said it was recalling about 1.16 million vehicles made between January 2014 and September 2017 as it allowed uncertified inspectors to perform safety checks at domestic plants.
Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa said in a press conference on Oct 2 the recall would cost the company around 25 billion yen ($223 million). The president vowed to prevent any further wrongdoings while admitting that unauthorized inspections had become common at the company.
Inspections by uncertified staff had been carried out at all of its domestic plants for finished cars in Kanagawa, Tochigi, Kyoto and Fukuoka prefectures.
The scandal first came to light after officials at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism uncovered the substandard inspections while looking through factory records at a Nissan plant in Kanagawa on Sept. 18, triggering an internal probe by the automaker.
Unqualified staff had also signed off on safety checks using several different seals of certified inspectors, a finding that suggests paperwork was deliberately falsified to cover up the illegitimate checks.
Nissan is scheduled to report the results of its internal probe and preventive steps to the ministry by the end of the month.
© KYODO
Nissan reported the mishandling of safety checks to the government and temporarily ceased vehicle shipments from the plant, they said.
According to Nissan, an internal probe last Wednesday found that uncertified staff were checking steering wheels in a final inspection at its subsidiary's plant in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo. Around 3,800 units were subject to this inspection.
The company said it does not plan to recall vehicles shipped from the plant, saying certified staff later verified readings of testing equipment.
Earlier in the month, the automaker said it was recalling about 1.16 million vehicles made between January 2014 and September 2017 as it allowed uncertified inspectors to perform safety checks at domestic plants.
Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa said in a press conference on Oct 2 the recall would cost the company around 25 billion yen ($223 million). The president vowed to prevent any further wrongdoings while admitting that unauthorized inspections had become common at the company.
Inspections by uncertified staff had been carried out at all of its domestic plants for finished cars in Kanagawa, Tochigi, Kyoto and Fukuoka prefectures.
The scandal first came to light after officials at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism uncovered the substandard inspections while looking through factory records at a Nissan plant in Kanagawa on Sept. 18, triggering an internal probe by the automaker.
Unqualified staff had also signed off on safety checks using several different seals of certified inspectors, a finding that suggests paperwork was deliberately falsified to cover up the illegitimate checks.
Nissan is scheduled to report the results of its internal probe and preventive steps to the ministry by the end of the month.
© KYODO
- October 21, 2017
- Comment (0)
- Trackback(0)