Toyota stocks plummet after Daihatsu safety probe, U.S. vehicle recall
Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Toyota's stock plummeted Thursday after amid a safety testing scandal at one of its subsidiaries and a recall of about a million vehicles in the United States.
Shares of Toyota fell 4% on Japan's Nikkei 225 index and had declined 0.067% on the New York Stock Exchange as of 9 a.m. EST Thursday, after declining 1.07% in pre-market trading.
The decline came as the Osaka headquarters of Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu, which supplies cars and parts to the automaker as well as other companies including Mazda and Subaru, were raided by the government after it was found to have manipulated results of collision-safety tests dating back to 1989 and accelerating in 2014.
Toyota announced on Wednesday that it would suspend shipments of all models developed by Daihatsu, both in Japan and internationally after an independent investigation said in April that Daihatsu had rigged side-collision safety tests carried out for 88,000 small cars, most of those sold as Toyotas.
"The investigation found new irregularities in 174 items within 25 test categories, in addition to the door lining irregularity in April and the side collision test irregularity in May," Toyota said.
"These encompassed a total of 64 models and three engines of vehicles (total of models currently being produced, developed, or ceased in production), including 22 models and 1 engine being sold by Toyota. We would like to express our sincere apologies for the inconvenience and concern this has caused to all stakeholders, including customers."
Toyota on Wednesday also announced a recall of nearly 1 million 2020-2022 Toyota and Lexus models in the United States over defects with the front passenger-side airbag system.
The recall includes models, such as the Camry sedan and the RAV4 sport utility vehicle, and the Lexus-branded ES in which a sensor used to detect a passenger in the front seat could short-circuit and prevent the airbag from deploying.
