Toyota has suspended sales and deliveries of its Yaris Ativ model in Thailand following the discovery that part of the car’s side-collision safety test had been rigged by its affiliate Daihatsu. The issue may have arisen due to pressure on Daihatsu to shorten the development time of the Ativ. Masahiko Maeda, Toyota’s CEO for the Asia region, suggested that the relatively large size of the Ativ may have posed a challenge to Daihatsu, which specialises in the production of small cars. Toyota is working with the Thai government to resume sales and deliveries of the model.
Last month, Toyota and Daihatsu disclosed that they were investigating how part of the door in side-collision safety tests carried out on some 88,000 small cars had been changed for the purpose of side-on crash safety testing. Daihatsu indicated that 76,000 of those cars were Yaris Ativ models, primarily bound for Thailand, Mexico and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda recently visited the Gateway plant in Chachoengsao province, where the Ativ is produced, in order to reassure workers. He has previously called Thailand his “home away from home”. Toyoda has a personal connection with the country, having said that late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej was the only global leader who expressed confidence in Toyota after the company was hit by a series of recalls in 2010 that led to US investigations and forced Toyoda to testify before Congress.
For Daihatsu, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota in 2016, Southeast Asia is a key market, with production facilities in Indonesia and Malaysia.