Improper Practices in Final Vehicle Inspection Operations
First written in FY2018-Q2. 4 of 6 entries say "Worsened", first in FY2018-Q3. Latest entry: FY2019.
Subaru moved to the "Worse" side of this theme in 2017, 1 year before the typical company in this theme (2018).
1 other company's latest entry also says "Mitigated".
- FY2019MitigatedAnnual report
「After halting the production lines on 26 October 2018 to verify the effectiveness of the measures to prevent recurrence, the Company determined that the measures were functioning effectively and that the soundness of the final inspection process had been secured. As of the same date, it confirmed that the improper practices identified had ended.」
While the final inspection issue resulted in a decision to impose an administrative fine of ¥83.4 million, it was stated that, following verification after the production line stoppage, the end of the improper practices identified had been confirmed. - FY2019-Q3WorsenedAnnual report
「The Company recognized that, because improper practices had continued even while measures to prevent recurrence were being implemented, management and supervisors needed to engage more closely than ever with the final inspection sites, listen to their views, properly address their requests and link them to improvements, while creating an environment in which final inspectors at the sites could feel these efforts and take the initiative in preventing recurrence.」
It was discovered that improper practices had continued even while measures to prevent recurrence were being implemented, and the Company received a recommendation from the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to review and thoroughly implement those measures. The response to the issue was further expanded to include 65 measures to prevent recurrence, a recall of approximately 100,000 vehicles and notification of the application of an administrative fine. - FY2019-Q2WorsenedAnnual report
「The Company determined that it could not completely rule out the possibility that pass-or-fail determinations in the final inspection process after the end of December 2017 had been unclear. It therefore decided to conduct a recall equivalent to the one notified on 11 October of approximately 100,000 vehicles for the Japanese market produced from 9 January to 26 October 2018.」
In addition to inspections by personnel without the required qualifications and the falsification of fuel economy and emissions measurement values, the scope of the improper practices was expanded to include a recall of approximately 100,000 vehicles. The Company also halted the production lines for the entire day on 2 November to verify the implementation of its measures to prevent recurrence. - FY2018WorsenedAnnual report
「As a result, it became clear that measurement values had been falsified during sampling inspections of fuel economy and emissions. The Company reported this to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on 27 April 2018 together with its measures to prevent recurrence, and published an investigation report. In addition, it was newly discovered that two improper measurement procedures had been used in the past: despite the occurrence of trace errors and humidity errors, in which the humidity in the measurement room was outside the range specified as a test condition, the measurements had each been processed as valid.」
In addition to the issue concerning final inspector qualifications, the falsification of fuel economy and emissions measurement values and improper measurement procedures were identified. A reinvestigation of the final inspection operations as a whole continued even after the report to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and publication of the investigation report. - FY2018-Q3WorsenedAnnual report
「In addition, during the investigation, the Company received a report that statements had been confirmed from some final inspectors indicating that measurement values had been altered during fuel economy measurements, which form part of the sampling inspection process, for a certain period after the start of mass production of certain vehicle models. However, the Company had not reached an objective determination of whether measurement values had in fact been altered or of the scope of any such alterations.」
In addition to the previously identified final inspections conducted by personnel without the required qualifications, statements were confirmed regarding the possibility that fuel economy measurement values had been altered for certain vehicle models. Whether measurement values had been altered and the scope of any alterations had not been confirmed, and an additional investigation involving external experts was continuing. - FY2018-Q2MaterialisedAnnual report
「Following an internal investigation conducted based on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's document dated 29 September 2017, titled "Implementation of Confirmation Following the Improper Final Inspection Practices at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.," the Company confirmed that improper practices had occurred in its final inspection operations and reported this to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on 30 October.」
An internal investigation confirmed improper practices in the performance of final inspection operations, leading to a report to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The Company stated that it would conduct a detailed investigation into past operating conditions and consider measures to prevent recurrence.