Uh-oh! Toyota Raize Hybrid sales stopped in Japan after new crash-test controversy

It seems Toyota has yet another headache resulting from the conduct of its subsidiary carmaker, Daihatsu.

New information has emerged regarding discrepancies in the crash-test certification of the Japanese-market Daihatsu Rocky Hybrid and Toyota Raize Hybrid crossovers, which were both developed by Daihatsu. 

Toyota has immediately suspended the sales of both models in the "Land of the Rising Sun" as it conducts an investigation.

This fresh controversy comes days after Toyota resolved the safety issues of the next-generation AC100 Toyota Vios and D74A Toyota Wigo, which both use Daihatsu platforms.

The Vios and Wigo were found to have anomalous side-impact results because of a modification that Daihatsu added to help the cars perform better in crash tests. However, the change was not included in production models, leading to a sales stoppage in Thailand until recently.

Our sister publication WapCar reported that the findings for the Rocky and Raize were uncovered by Toyota after a full review ordered by company chairman Akio Toyoda, following the earlier debacle.

Misfiling or misconduct?

The issue stems from the data that Daihatsu submitted for the UN-R135 (pole side-impact) certification of the crossovers.

The UN-R135 test is conducted by crashing the driver or passenger side of a test vehicle into a 254-mm-diameter pole at 32 km/h. The vehicle is canted 75 degrees from the straight-ahead position.

The latest investigation discovered that findings for the passenger side (left) collision test data were submitted for the driver's side (right) to authorities. Being Japanese-market vehicles, the test cars were all right-hand drive.

Over 78,000 units affected

According to Daihatsu, the certification involves 56,111 units of the Toyota Raize and a further 22,329 units of the Daihatsu Rocky HEV variants sold in Japan.

However, the certification problem affects only hybrid versions of the crossovers, which should not affect non-hybrid versions like the Raize variants sold in the Philippines.

Toyota has said it will work with Daihatsu to carefully address this matter and will continue to report on the details as soon as they become available.

Do you think Daihatsu should be punished more severely for this latest controversy?

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