TOKYO (Reuters) — The Japanese government issued a corrective order to Toyota Motor on Wednesday following newly discovered violations in the company’s vehicle certification procedures.
The transport ministry said that on-site inspections uncovered widespread, intentional misconduct and irregularities in seven additional models that had not been previously disclosed.
Toyota said in a statement the corrective order urged it to “make drastic reforms to ensure appropriate certification operations”.
Earlier this month, Toyota said it did not find any new cases of wrongdoing in car model certification applications beyond the ones it had already reported in June.
Toyota and four other vehicle makers admitted in June they had submitted either flawed or manipulated data when applying for certification of vehicles.
Toyota’s wrongdoing involved three production models – the Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio and Yaris Cross – and discontinued versions of four other models, including one sold under luxury Lexus brand.
The companies conducted the investigation after the transport ministry ordered industry-wide checks of certification practices following a safety test scandal at Toyota’s Daihatsu compact car unit.
The transport ministry said six of the seven additional Toyota models with irregularities were also certified in other countries, and it has alerted overseas authorities about the issues.
Four of the additional models – the Noah, Voxy, Harrier, and Lexus LM – are still in production by Toyota while three are no longer manufactured.