NISSAN TO PROBE DATA FALSIFICATION
Latest scandal a further test for Saikawa after last year’s recall
NISSAN Motor Co said it will investigate instances of misconduct involving falsified data about exhaust emissions and fuel economy, the second controversy in less than a year for the carmaker whose vehicle-inspection scandal had led to the recall of about 1.2 million vehicles.
The data falsification, which occurred on 19 models across five plants in Japan, was found out when the company was carrying out an internal check about employees conducting final inspection of vehicles, said Nissan at its Yokohama headquarters, here, on Monday.
The incident won’t lead to any recalls as the vehicles meet catalog specifications for fuel economy and emissions.
It’s the latest issue for chief executive officer Hiroto Saikawa, 64, after he and other executives took a pay cut last year with the inspection crisis leading to a vehicle recall in Japan and a reduction in its profit forecast.
Nissan shares rebounded, here, yesterday as investors deemed the incident — based on what has been disclosed — might not be as threatening as the emission scandal that engulfed Volkswagen AG.
“It’s a domestic matter and foreign investors are not too concerned,” said Tokai Tokyo Research Centre analyst Seiji Sugiura. “But Nissan will suffer from reputation damage at home.”
Saikawa, the handpicked successor of Carlos Ghosn, took charge of Nissan in April last year. Within six months, he faced the first big test of his own, the vehicle-inspection scandal.
Nissan’s announcement is the latest in a string of compliance scandals at carmakers, including Mitsubishi Motors Corp and Subaru Corp that has dented the reputation of Japan’s manufacturing sector. Last year, Kobe Steel Ltd said it sold products that failed quality control tests to more than 500 companies. Subaru, which admitted to manipulating emission data records to match mileage submitted to the government, was also embroiled in a similar controversy as Nissan’s.
During the checks, Nissan found out that employees misrepresented temperature and humidity data in the testing chamber and manipulated emission data on carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The carmaker has hired a law firm to investigate the matter further.
Nissan bailed out Mitsubishi Motors in 2016 after the company was caught falsifying mileage estimates for several of its vehicles. Suzuki Motor Corp.