Mitsubishi Continued to Botch Fuel Economy Data After Scandal Broke

After admitting to number fudging in April, Mitsubishi continued to manipulate the results of its fuel economy tests. The accusation comes from Japan’s transport ministry, which has just put another dent into Mitsubishi’s damaged reputation.

In April, Mitsubishi said it manipulated test data on four minicars sold in Japan. Right after the scandal broke, the transport ministry informed Mitsubishi on the proper way to test its cars. But despite that effort, Mitsubishi continued to manipulate numbers on tests conducted one month later.

Under Japanese regulations, automakers are supposed to conduct five road tests and calculate the average of the median numbers. One time, testers for Mitsubishi instead used the average from the best fuel economy values. In another case, testers claimed they weren’t told they could only conduct five tests. Sure enough, August rolled around and eight more vehicles were found to have incorrect fuel economy numbers.

“We cannot help but feel concerned that these points haven’t been improved,” said Naoki Fujii, head of the ministry’s the road transport division, reports The Wall Street Journal.

An investigation ordered by Mitsubishi found that its data errors went back all the way to 1991. And in 2005, Mitsubishi allegedly ignored an employee’s plea to stop lying about its fuel economy. Osamu Masuko, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, later blamed the errors on a “divided” company that “lacked unity needed to detect problems.” In June, Mitsubishi was looking for an independent third-party auditor to help ensure tests are performed correctly.

Mitsubishi expects its car sales in Japan to fall more than 40 percent this fiscal year. It posted a huge loss of 129.7 billion yen during the three months ending June 30.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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