Now Reading
Daihatsu Rigged Crash Safety Tests For 2023 Perodua Axia And Toyota Vios

Daihatsu Rigged Crash Safety Tests For 2023 Perodua Axia And Toyota Vios

About 11,800 affected Perodua Axias were manufactured and sold in Malaysia.

Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest stories and updates.


Toyota’s subsidiary Daihatsu recently admitted to rigging the crash safety tests for four car models: the 2023 Perodua Axia, Toyota Vios (the Yaris Ativ in Thailand and other places), Toyota Agya, and a new model that has yet to be launched.

The company added that new car shipments have been suspended.

Daihatsu said in a statement that over 88,000 units of affected models have been sold in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Mexico.

About 11,800 affected Perodua Axias were manufactured in Malaysia in a joint venture plant with Daihatsu and Perodua starting in February.

Meanwhile, 76,000 Yaris models were sold in Thailand, Mexico, and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman).

Image: Toyota Vios

According to Reuters, Daihatsu rigged part of the door in side-collision safety tests. The door trim on the affected vehicles had been modified with a “notch” to lessen the risk that the door panel could break with a sharp edge and injure passengers when the side airbag is deployed.

However, this modification for testing was not part of the production vehicle.

Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda apologised for the “unacceptable” violation of consumer trust and said the company would investigate how the side panel of Yaris and other models had been changed for safety testing.

So far, Toyota has not received any report of an accident or injury related to the rigged side-crash safety test.

We’ll proceed with a detailed investigation from here on, but promise to decisively understand what happened at the site, investigate the true intentions and sincerely work to prevent a recurrence. We’re going to need some time to do that.

Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda

Daihatsu said it would run new safety tests in the presence of regulators and confirm the safety of the vehicle models before resuming shipments.

In the meantime, Daihatsu said there’s “no need for customers using these models to take any action for continued use.”


Share your thoughts with us via TRP’s FacebookTwitter, and Instagram.

Get more stories like this to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter.

© 2024 The Rakyat Post. All Rights Reserved. Owned by 3rd Wave Media Sdn Bhd