Following the Daihatsu safety scandal involving the Yariz Ativ/Vios and Axia/Agya, further internal investigations have revealed that the Toyota Raize has also been involved in a safety scandal. The safety issue concerns the UN-R135 test, which is a pole side collision test. According to Daihatsu, instead of submitting the right driver’s seat data for test, the company submitted the left side data.
Like the Vios/Yariz Ativ issue, the Toyota Raize’s safety scandal concerns the driver door. In the pole side impact test (UN-R135), the left and tight test must be performed and the data must be submitted. Quoting Daihatsu on its official website, “This time, the passenger seat side (left) was tested in the presence of witnesses. For the driver’s seat side, we submitted the left side data instead of the right-side in-house test data.”
According to Daihatsu, this matter was discovered during an internal inspection of Daihatsu’s certification operations in response to Daihatsu’s announcement on April 28, 2023, that it had committed wrongdoing in conducting side impact collision tests of vehicles destined for overseas markets.
The Toyota Raize is essentially the same model as the Daihatsu Rocky and the Perodua Ativa. Sales of the Daihatsu Rocky have also been suspended, but no statements have been made regarding the Perodua counterpart of the Toyota Raize. With the Axia, Vios, and now the Raize being involved in the Daihatsu safety scandal, it is possible that the Alza/Veloz may be affected too. No news has surfaced regarding these models yet.
RELATED: No recalls for Toyota Vios amidst Daihatsu safety “procedural irregularity”
In a statement released by Toyota, the company says that “All Group companies, including Toyota Motor Corporation, have begun a company-wide reexamination and thorough review of the governance system until now. We will work with Daihatsu to carefully address this matter while listening to the voices of those on the front lines. We will also continue to report on the details as soon as they become available.”
RELATED: MIROS to assess Perodua Axia safety, no complaints received so far
Daihatsu Motor Corporation, in a statement, said, “Our company believes that this fraud is a fraud in the area related to vehicle safety and is not socially acceptable. It is thought that management failed to get involved in the field, neglecting compliance with laws and fostering a healthy corporate culture, and lost sight of proper car manufacturing, leading to the occurrence of fraudulent acts.”
“Rather than ending this incident of misconduct as a mere matter of business conduct, the reforms are tied to the philosophy and action guidelines of the entire corporate group. We will thoroughly investigate the environment and the root cause, work on improvement and recurrence prevention, and will work with the determination to change the company so that the same mistake will not be repeated by draining the pus.”
“The Company will fully cooperate with the third-party committee’s full clarification of the incident and its root cause analysis. In addition, management will immediately communicate with the workplace and focus on creating a workplace where people can speak frankly.”
UPDATE: Toyota Raize passes in-house re-test of UN-R135, authorities to confirm
