Nissan to cite poor awareness of compliance in scandal report

November 17, 2017

Tokyo- Nissan Motor Co. in a report seen to be submitted to the transport ministry as early as Friday over its vehicle inspection scandal, is expected to admit that poor awareness of compliance among its workers was behind the misconduct.

The focal point is whether and how the report will mention the responsibility of Nissan President Hiroto Saikawa and his predecessor, Carlos Ghosn, now chairman of the major Japanese automaker.

Nissan announced in late September that unqualified workers had engaged in pre-shipment inspections of finished vehicles at the group's all six domestic vehicle plants.

Following the revelation that the faulty inspections continued even after the announcement, the company suspended domestic automobile production and shipments until early November.

In the upcoming report, Nissan is expected to say that the inspections of finished vehicles by unqualified workers had been conducted as routine for a long period of time and that an inspection protocol the company filed with the state had been ignored, informed sources said.

As causes of the irregularities, the company is expected to cite its workers' inadequate knowledge about related laws and their poor awareness of compliance, the sources said.

The report is also likely to point to insufficient deployment of qualified inspectors during finished vehicle inspections and a lack of communication between the management and workers at production sites, the sources said. Jiji Press