Toyota's Tokyo sales arm admits falsifying vehicle inspection data

Toyota Mobility Tokyo Inc., a sales arm of Toyota Motor Corp., admitted falsifying vehicle inspection results for 565 cars to complete the process within the allotted time.

The falsifications occurred at the Lexus Takanawa outlet of Toyota Mobility Tokyo, which set a limit of two hours to complete the vehicle inspection to allow customers to wait at the outlet for completion of the task.

Priority was placed on meeting that time limit.

Yasuhiko Sato, the Toyota Motor executive in charge of domestic sales, said the falsification was a result of prioritizing the completion of the legally prescribed vehicle inspections as quickly as possible.

The outlet handled 1,864 vehicle inspections after June 2019, with four inspectors found falsifying results for 565 vehicles.

Some of the falsifications were violative of the Road Transport Vehicles Law, such as for braking functions.

Some inspection items were omitted, such as speedometer accuracy and exhaust composition, while the results of other items, including braking function and headlight brightness, were falsified.

In March, a Toyota car dealership in Aichi Prefecture, where Toyota Motor is headquartered, was caught falsifying inspection results for 5,158 cars.