The transport ministry said Friday that there had been "improper handling" of data regarding fuel economy and exhaust emissions for fully assembled vehicles by Audi Japan K.K., the Japanese importer of vehicles produced by Germany's Audi AG.
It is the first case of such inspection misconduct for imported cars in the nation. Such misconduct has been reported for cars manufactured by domestic automakers including Subaru Corp. and Nissan Motor Co.
Among 692 vehicles that the Audi Japan arm conducted sample tests on for fuel economy and exhaust emissions from July 2014 to July 2018, it falsely stated that data for 37 cars was valid, even though the cars had been run at speeds for which the data would be invalid. According to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, the auto importer said there was no data falsification in any of the cases.
Improper handling of data was confirmed for 13 models, including the 2015-18 models of the A7 and A8 series. Audi Japan imports and sells luxury sedans and sport utility vehicles.
Imported cars need to undergo the same completion inspections as domestically produced cars. In the case of these imported Audi vehicles, inspections were conducted in Germany, and inspectors failed to notice the existence of data that was invalid. Audi Japan said it has verified the remaining data for the cars, and confirmed that their quality has not been affected.
To prevent similar cases from happening again, Audi Japan said it has increased the number of inspectors, and is planning to review its inspection system in several months time.
In fiscal 2017, Audi sold 28,620 units in Japan, or about 8 percent of all imported cars, making it the fourth biggest car importer.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
