Production partially resumes at Daihatsu after safety scandal

Daihatsu on Monday resumed part of its domestic production, more than a month after suspending all factory operations over a safety testing scandal.

Full production later this month

The Toyota-owned firm’s factory in Kyoto resumed manufacturing of the Probox van and Mazda-branded Familia van, a Daihatsu spokesman told AFP.

Daihatsu will resume production of 10 other models on February 26, after the transport ministry confirmed they met safety regulations, it said last week.

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Daihatsu said in December it had been manipulating safety tests since at least 1989, affecting 64 models, including some sold under the Toyota brand, which are also being suspended. In the same month, the company suspended all domestic production.

In April, it said it had been falsifying crash test results for four of its models, involving a total of 88 000 vehicles made in Thailand and Malaysia in 2022 and 2023.

In May, it halted production in Japan of two hybrid vehicle models because of similar “irregularities”, including the Toyota Raize SUV, manufactured on behalf of its parent.

South Africa seemingly unaffected

Despite the timeframe of the report’s findings, it appears as if South Africa has not been affected by the recall following not only Daihatsu’s departure from the local market in 2015, but also based on sales of the discontinued Toyota Rush and Avanza – both rebadged versions of the Daihatsu Terios and Xenia.

Additional reporting by Charl Bosch

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