On January 24th, Toyota’s Daihatsu subsidiary officially submitted a recall application to the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, recalling a total of 322,740 vehicles. The vehicles affected by this recall are the Daihatsu Cast and Toyota Pixis Joy, produced from August 2015 to June 2023. So far, no accidents related to this issue have been confirmed.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan said that the door lock tests for these two models were insufficient. In the event of a side impact, the doors may not unlock, making it difficult to rescue passengers. Last December, Toyota’s subcompact car brand, Daihatsu, was involved in a safety scandal. The company announced that 64 of its models, including 22 sold under the Toyota brand, had problems and would immediately stop all domestic and international shipments. The scandal began in April of last year, when Daihatsu admitted to falsifying side-impact safety test data for 88,000 small cars, most of which were sold under the Toyota brand. A thorough investigation by an independent investigative team revealed that the problem was much more serious than initially disclosed and could seriously damage the quality and safety reputation of Toyota and Daihatsu. Daihatsu President Ichiro Ohfune held a press conference in Tokyo on the afternoon of December 20, admitting to irregularities in new car safety tests and announcing a suspension of shipments for all models sold domestically and internationally. Toyota also halted shipments of some models.