Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu, to halt shipment of all models over rigged safety tests

Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu said Wednesday it will suspend shipments of all car models currently in production both at home in Japan and abroad, following new revelations about its rigging of safety tests.

"Daihatsu decided today to temporarily suspend shipments of all Daihatsu-developed models currently in production, both in Japan and overseas," the auto titan said in a statement following a report by an independent panel.

The panel was set up earlier this year to probe a safety scandal that originally emerged in April.

The investigation "found new irregularities in 174 items within 25 test categories", in addition to wrongdoing already detected in April and May about door parts and side-collision tests, Toyota said.

The number of car models linked to wrongdoing now totals 64, including 22 sold by Toyota.

With certification being a "major prerequisite" for an automobile manufacturer to conduct business, "we recognise the extreme gravity" of Daihatsu's neglect, which has "shaken the very foundations of the company as an automobile manufacturer", Toyota said.

In its own statement, Daihatsu, offered its "deep apologies" for "betraying the trust of our customers and stakeholders".

Toyota and Daihatsu said they were not aware at this moment of any accidents that arose from the falsification, but "thorough technical verification" is underway.