Japan Automakers Hit by Safety Scandal

Toyota Motor Corp. admitted Monday to improperly obtaining vehicle certifications for seven car models by carrying out safety tests in ways inconsistent with set government standards, in a renewed blow to the company following a recent spate of quality scandals at their group firms. 

 

Similar instances of misconduct were also found at Honda Motor Co., Mazda Motor Corp., Suzuki Motor Corp., and Yamaha Motor Co., according to the transport ministry. 

 

The ministry said they will conduct on-site inspections at the automakers' offices and consider taking administrative action. The latest issues were discovered after the ministry instructed 85 automakers and parts suppliers to investigate whether certifications were acquired properly following a series of scandals at Toyota group firms.

 

Three of the seven models are still in production – the Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio, and Yaris Cross – while the rest have been discontinued, the company said. 

 

Toyota were instructed by the ministry to halt shipments of the affected models, as well as Mazda, which had irregularities in two car models, and Yamaha, which had irregularities in one class of motorcycle. The misconduct at Honda and Suzuki only affected discontinued models, the companies said.

 

Of the 85 firms surveyed, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism received responses from about 70 as of the end of May. No other misconduct was found beyond what was reported by the five companies, and the ministry expect the rest of the firms to turn in their reports soon, they said. 

 

Toyota insist their vehicles in question are all safe to drive, if you can believe them. It is a disturbing fact that the Toyota group have been hit with quality issues in recent years. 

 

Their small-car unit Daihatsu Motor Co. said in December that safety data had been manipulated for most of their cars, while in January, affiliate Toyota Industries Corp. revealed that engine data had been falsified for years. Not to mention that their truck-manufacturing subsidiary Hino Motors Ltd. had admitted to cheating on emission and fuel efficiency data in 2022.

 

Japanese quality is now very much suspect.

Facebook's Advertiser Revolt

Pigheadedness best describes Mark Zuckerberg. Perhaps, that's because the Facebook CEO has always been too full of himself. 

Worse, he has shown to be ever so willing to drop on his knees in order to kiss the ass of the President of the United States of America. 

He had regularly refused to flag false and incendiary statements from Donald Trump. 

Even when his own employees staged a 'virtual' walkout and called on the company to do more to address hate speech and incitement to violence – not just from Trump but also hate groups – he had stood his ground. 

As recently as last week, he even stoutly defended Trump’s posts as being “legitimate”. 

Advocacy groups including the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP and Color Of Change started “Stop Hate for Profit” on Wednesday to pile pressure on Zuckerberg's money spinning machine – and asking advertisers to pause all spending with Facebook for the month of July. 

Arc'teryx, Ben & Jerry’s, Eileen Fisher, Magnolia Pictures, Patagonia, REI, The North Face, Upwork and Verizon are amongst companies that gave their support and snubbed the tech company. 

On Thursday, the boycott grew beyond advertisers. Chat app Viber, which allows 100 million of its billion-plus users around the world to log in with their Facebook accounts, announced plans to cut ties with the social network entirely, removing all Facebook code from their service. 

Joy Howard, chief marketing officer of the password manager Dashlane, another participant in the boycott, said: “Facebook is not committed to change. They will only say what money makes them say. It’s time for us to put our money where their mouth is”. 

[Note: Facebook make $70.7 billion in annual advertising revenue]. 

As pressure piles on the social media site, Zuckerberg announced tweaks to a number of policies on Friday – hours after Unilever said they too would pull their advertisements from the social media platform for the next six months (BUT only in the US). 

That announcement was too little too late. It did not halt companies’ demands for change. On that same day, Coca-Cola, Hershey's, Honda, JanSport, Levi Strauss, Lululemon and Starbucks joined the more than 100 brands boycotting advertising on Facebook.

James Quincey, chairperson and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company said: “There is no place for racism in the world and there is no place for racism on social media” – and that social media companies need to provide “greater accountability and transparency”. 

In fact, Zuckerberg’s purported changes don’t go nearly far enough. 

More pressure must come to bear on Facebook to cease and desist “amplifying the messages of white supremacists” and “permitting incitement to violence”. 

And it's about time that Zuckerberg calls Trump out because he is a racist and a fascist, period.

Toyota’s Eco-friendly Short Distance Mobility Option

As the automotive market adopts the commitment to develop environmentally friendly modes of transportation, vehicles are increasingly being designed for specific niches and their particular needs. 

Throughout 2019, a handful of extremely compact electric vehicles and concepts – Citroen’s Ami One, Seat’s Minimo, Nissan’s IMk, and Honda’s Urban EV – have been announced with the nearly-exclusive purpose of being used in strictly urban environments. 

On Thursday, Toyota, too, revealed their own rendition of the teeny-weeny city vehicle: The Ultra-compact BEV (right). 

And it is already one up on the other cars in this particular segment – this EV is not a concept; it’s production ready and truth be told, it is expected to launch in Japan in 2020. 

I read that the two-seater has a single-charge range of about 100 km and a top speed of 60km/h (or 37mph). 

This car is not designed for performance – instead, Toyota intend for it to be used by customers who make short-distance trips like “the elderly, newly licensed drivers, or business-people visiting local customers”. 

Though the technical specs of the model have not been released, Toyota’s Head of Development Akihiro Yanaka states that this model will provide customers with “greater autonomy”. 

The Ultra-compact BEV will be on display at the Tokyo Motor Show (October 24 to November 04) at the Future Expo. 

Yesterday, I was at the MIDA premise in KL Sentral in Kuala Lumpur to attend the KL Advanced Toastmasters meeting. I was both an assignment speaker as well as a speech evaluator. 

My speech was from the Humorously Speaking manual, project #2 Leave Them With a Smile and it was titled The Day My Best Friend Died 

‘Twas a speech that contained dark humor – and it was about Bernard. 

BTW, I was voted Best Evaluator for my feedback for an Ice-breaker speech:

Photos from the said meeting: