NISSAN WOES ACCELERATE
NHK claims carmaker has not been following proper procedures for at least 2 decades
INAPPROPRIATE inspection practices at Nissan Motor Co Ltd had been going for at least 20 years, Japanese national broadcaster NHK reported yesterday, in a new revelation that could further roil Japan’s second-biggest carmaker.
Nissan said late on Thursday it was suspending domestic production of vehicles for the Japanese market for at least two weeks to address misconduct in its final inspection procedures, which it first revealed last month.
The scandal has led to a recall of all 1.2 million cars it sold in Japan over the past three years.
An internal investigation at Nissan had shown that for at least 20 years, the carmaker had not been following proper procedures for final inspections required by Japan’s transport ministry of all vehicles sold in the country, NHK reported.
Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii yesterday said Nissan’s inspection of its assembly plants was ongoing, adding that it remained unclear how long the final inspections had been conducted by uncertified technicians, a violation of ministry requirements.
A Nissan spokesman declined to directly confirm or deny the NHK report, and referred to chief executive Hiroto Saikawa’s comments on Thursday, when he said that the carmaker’s training system for certifying vehicle inspection staff had not changed for 20 years.
Saikawa had said that was a separate issue from how long the misconduct had been going on.
He said it appeared that a focus on increasing the efficiency of the inspection process and poor communication at assembly plants appeared to have contributed to the issue.
Nissan will continue to produce vehicles in Japan for export, including its popular Rogue SUV crossover model and the batteryelectric Leaf, as the certification process for final inspections does not apply to vehicles shipped overseas.
The carmaker produced roughly 79,300 passenger and commercial vehicles in Japan in August. Around 27,600 of these were made for the domestic market, representing around six per cent of its global production.
While Nissan has said the misconduct has no impact on the quality of its vehicles, it has raised questions about how closely rules are followed at its production plants, while also highlighting compliance issues at Japanese manufacturers.