Automobile companies have successively announced the results of investigations they have been carrying out since early 2024.

On 3 June 2024, Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Suzuki and Yamaha Motor announced that they had received instructions from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) to conduct a fact-finding survey on the existence of irregularities in applications for type designation (covering 85 companies, including motorcycle companies that had received type certification) and that irregularities had been found in some vehicle models (17 companies were still investigating at that time). (17 companies were still under investigation as of the same date).

Most of the fraud cases involving Toyota and Honda have been reported by the companies, who have submitted development and certification data under stricter conditions, and have stated that they have confirmed that there are no safety problems, and have called on users not to be concerned. However, as there are many users who are not aware of the details of the fraud, there is a possibility that a certain level of damage to the brand image may occur due to the fraud.

In addition, the disagreement with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) over the certification fraud is also a cause for concern, and Toyota has decided to continue the suspension of production of three models from July onwards, which was originally scheduled to last until 28 June. In order to resume production at the earliest possible date, it will be important to reach a consensus with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) and to obtain their approval as smoothly as possible.

However, as the percentage of the current production models that are illegal is around 2%, even if production is halted for one or two months, the impact on the company’s performance is expected to be negligible.