Subaru probing possible mileage data manipulation

December 21, 2017

Tokyo- Japan's Subaru Corp. said Wednesday it will launch an investigation into whether the automaker manipulated fuel economy data of vehicles during pre-shipment checks.

Some officials pointed to the possibility of such practice during a hearing by a law firm over the company's misconduct in final inspections of finished vehicles.

Trust in the company will be shaken further if such practice is confirmed, after it emerged in October that Subaru had used unqualified employees in the final inspections.

Subaru made public an investigation report on the use of unqualified inspectors on Tuesday. On that day, however, it did not disclose the possible data manipulation.

This is because it has yet to confirm objectively whether there were revisions to specific measured figures, the automaker said.

The company has not identified models or production periods of vehicles whose mileage data may have been manipulated, it also said.

Subaru checks fuel economies as part of the final inspections, picking a certain number of finished vehicles.

The checks are not legally mandatory. But Subaru voluntarily collects fuel economy data to ensure that its products attain fuel economy figures submitted to the government.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. was found in 2016 to have manipulated test data to make its vehicles look more fuel-efficient than they actually were. Jiji Press