Nissan Finds Cheating on Emissions Tests in Japan

July 10, 2018

Yokohama- Nissan Motor Co. said Monday that it has found misconduct involving sampling tests on vehicle emissions conducted at assembly plants in Japan.

The Japanese automaker said exhaust emissions tests "deviated from the prescribed testing environment" and that inspection reports were created "based on altered measurement values."

The misconduct affects at least 1,171 vehicles tested between April 2013 and June this year, or 53.5 pct of vehicles tested in the period. Affected models include the Note compact car.

The transport ministry ordered the company to investigate the matter thoroughly and report preventive measures in about a month.

The misconduct deals a serious blow to the automaker and President and Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa because this follows a vehicle inspection scandal at the company that came to light in autumn last year.

The scandal involved the use of employees in final inspections of finished vehicles who were not authorized to perform such checks.

"We would like to offer a deep apology to customers and other people concerned," Nissan Chief Competitive Officer Yasuhiro Yamauchi, the company's chief of manufacturing, said at a press conference at its head office in Yokohama, south of Tokyo.

But he said that there is no need for any safety recall because all vehicles produced meet safety standards.

Nissan said that through revaluation of reliable log data, it has confirmed that all vehicles produced, excluding the GT-R sports car which is still being evaluated, conform to Japanese safety standards.

Neither Chairman Carlos Ghosn nor CEO Saikawa was present at the press conference.

The misconduct was discovered at five of the company's six domestic plants, which did not include Nissan Motor Kyushu Co., an affiliated plant.

A total of 10 employees in charge of inspections were involved in the misconduct, Nissan said, adding that it is unclear whether other employees were aware of it.

Nissan said it has asked a law firm to investigate the cause of the misconduct and come up with results about in a month and that the automaker will draw up preventive measures based on the results. Jiji Press