A major Japanese business daily reported in Tuesday that prosecutors have decided against filing charges against three Toyota officials under investigation on distrust of avoiding recalls that may have led to an accident.
Paul Nolasco, Toyota Motor Corporation's spokesman, declined to comment on The Nikkei report saying that the company was not yet officially notified of any decision. Prosecutors in Kumamoto, in southern Japan where the accident happened, also declined to comment. Toyota has denied the wrongdoing in the case.
Without citing sources, the Nikkei reported that investigators had decided that it would be hard to move ahead with professional negligence charges in the 2004 head-on crash.
Police said that when the steering failed in a Toyota Hilux Surf sport utility vehicle, 5 people were injured in that accident. The failed steering caused the vehicle to swing out of control into the wrong lane. Whether Toyota had avoided making a needed recall for eight years is the core of the investigation. Company officials are accused of being aware of the steering problem from 1995 or 1996, with reports of problems initially spreading in 1992. Until October 2004, Toyota did not carry out a recall on the model. The giant Japanese car maker said that the recall was for a problem part used in the steering system that could break. Last year, prosecutors took over a police investigation that accused the three officials supervising quality control at the automaker. Their names were not exposed but Toyota has said at least one of them has left the company.
Maker of quality , Toyota reaches worldwide rapidly growing sales. In the first quarter, it surpassed General Motors Corp. in global sales and production, the first time that has happened in a quarter.
Toyota has a strong reputation for flawless quality, but that image has been damaged a bit lately due to series of recalls. As a result, some doubts have been raised whether it can maintain quality standards as its global sales expand rapidly. But the company executives have repeatedly expressed concerns about sliding quality and have promised to strengthen quality controls.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. was also into a scandal involving recall cover-ups, which has taken a huge toll on the car maker. Mitsubishi Motors acknowledged in 2000 that it had been systematically hiding auto defects from authorities for more than twenty years. The company disclosed in 2004; it had failed to come clean in 2000, and has carried out a downpour of recalls.
Nissan Motor Co. is also clashing up quality controls, emphasizing the need for transparency. In June, a new Nissan center in Japan to check into defects and to work closely with suppliers was opened.
