Nissan’s improper inspections started about 20 years ago, states NHK

Improper evaluation practices at Nissan Motor had been going for at least 20 years, Japanese national broadcaster NHK reported.

Nissan stated late on Thursday it was suspending domestic production of cars for the Japanese market for at least 2 weeks to deal with misconduct in its last assessment procedures, which it first revealed last month. The scandal has led to a recall of all 1.2 million cars it sold in Japan over the past 3 years.

An internal investigation at Nissan had actually revealed that for at least 20 years the automaker had not been following appropriate procedures for final inspections needed by Japan’s transport ministry of all vehicles sold in the nation, NHK reported, without pointing out any sources.

Transport minister Keiichi Ishii on Friday stated that Nissan’s assessment of its assembly plants was ongoing, including that it remained uncertain how long the final inspections had been performed by uncertified specialists, an offense of ministry requirements.

A Nissan representative refused to directly confirm or reject the NHK report, and referred Reuters to CEO Hiroto Saikawa’s comments on Thursday, when he said Nissan’s training system for certifying vehicle inspection staff had actually altered for 2 decades.

Saikawa had included that was a separate issue from the length of time the misconduct had been going on. He stated that it appeared that a focus on boosting the performance of the inspection process and bad interaction at assembly plants seemed to have contributed to the issue.