Mitsubishi Admits Vehicle Rigging Going Back To More Than 25 Years

Tokyo: Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, the Japanese car maker, which last week admitted manipulating emissions data in more than 600,000 vehicles, said an internal investigation found such tampering dated to more than 25 years back in 1991.

Company President Tetsuro Aikawa on Tuesday said that that the probe was ongoing, suggesting that more irregularities might be found. “We don’t know the whole picture and we are in the process of trying to determine that,” he said at a news conference at the transport ministry in Tokyo. “I feel a great responsibility.”

Aikawa said so much was unknown that it was uncertain what action the company would take. He said he didn’t know why employees resorted to such tactics to make mileage look better.

Mitsubishi had repeatedly promised to come clean after a massive scandal that took place 15 years ago involving a systematic cover-up of auto defects. The inaccurate mileage tests involved 157,000 of its eK wagon and eK Space light passenger cars, and 468,000 Dayz and Dayz Roox vehicles produced for Nissan Motor Company.

The models are all so-called “minicars” with tiny engines whose main attraction is generally great mileage. They were produced from March 2013. The problem surfaced after Nissan pointed out inconsistencies in data.

Japan is periodically shaken by scandals at top-name companies, including electronics company Toshiba Corporation, which had doctored accounting books for years, and medical equipment company Olympus Corporation, which acknowledged it had covered up massive losses.

Mitsubishi struggled for years to win back consumer trust after an auto defects scandal in the early 2000s. The recent controversy only adds fuel to the mistrust.