Daihatsu suspends domestic plant operations amid safety test scandal

Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Japanese automotive production company Daihatsu, which in the middle of safety testing scandal, suspended all of its domestic operations on Tuesday.

Daihatsu has four plants in Japan. Its Copen mini-vehicle plant in Osaka Prefecture was the last plant to stop production. The company did not say when it will restart operations other than to say it will last through January.

"It is so difficult that we cannot see a path going forward," a company official said. "We trust that [Daihatsu] will take steps to deal with the situation."

The move leaves hanging some 8,000 suppliers, including its owner Toyota Motor Corp. It also idles its 9,000 workers across Japan. Twenty-four of the 64 models Daihatsu makes are branded by Toyota.

Daihatsu sells around 1.1 million cars annually and makes up 10% of Toyota's sales.

Toyota announced last Wednesday that it would suspend shipments of all models developed by Daihatsu, both in Japan and internationally after an independent investigation said in April that Daihatsu had rigged side-collision safety tests carried out for 88,000 small cars, most of those sold as Toyotas.

That led to a recall of early 1 million 2020-2022 Toyota and Lexus models in the United States over defects with the front passenger side airbag system.