Nearly 12,000 Axia cars may be affected by rigged test

 

The affected Axia cars had been produced in Malaysia since February, Daihatsu said. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Close to 12,000 Perodua Axia cars may be affected by rigged safety tests discovered by Daihatsu, a subsidiary of Toyota.

The vehicles were among some 88,000-plus cars which were affected. Most of them were sold as Toyota Yaris models in Thailand and Gulf countries.

Daihatsu said it had discovered the rigged safety test after a whistleblower report, according to Reuters.

The door trim on the affected vehicles had been modified to minimise the risk, during testing, that the interior of the door could break with a sharp edge and injure the passenger when the side airbag deployed in an accident.

The company said it has since reported the matter to regulatory agencies and halted shipment of affected models.

However, the company said it had not received any report of an accident or injury related to the rigged side-crash test.

The 11,800 affected Axias had been manufactured in Malaysia since February at a joint venture plant that Daihatsu runs with Perodua. “Those cars were sold in Malaysia,” the report said.

Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda said the two companies were probing how the side-panel of Yaris and other models had been changed for safety testing.

He also apologised for the “unacceptable violation of consumer trust”.

FMT is seeking comment from Perodua. - FMT