Former Mitsubishi execs arrested
Tokyo, Japan - Reuters news agency reported that seven former Mitsubishi Motors executives were arrested by police on Thursday for allegedly falsifying reports about a faulty wheel hub that caused truck wheels to come off contributing to one death and about fifty accidents since 1992. The company had previously claimed that truck owners did not maintain their vehicles properly.
Mitsubishi's problems come at a bad time for the company which is reeling under a crushing debt-load. Partner DaimlerChrysler said this week that it will not put any more money into the company.
Mitsubishi was hit with another scandal four years ago when they were convicted of hiding customer complaints for over twenty years. The company was fined the maximum penalty of four million yen.
Source : http://www.canadiandriver.com
Full Version: Former Mitsubishi execs arrested
QUOTE
Former MMC execs arrested over coverup of fatal defects
YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) Police arrested seven former senior Mitsubishi Motors Corp. officials Thursday for alleged professional negligence resulting in death and injury and the filing of false reports to authorities on vehicle defects related to a fatal truck accident in Yokohama in 2002.
The seven include Takashi Usami, 63, former chairman of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp., who was vice president of MMC at the time of the accident, and Akio Hanawa, 63, former Mitsubishi Motors managing director. Usami stepped down as Mitsubishi Fuso chairman April 26.
In the morning, Kanagawa Prefectural Police officials raided the Tokyo headquarters of truck and bus maker Mitsubishi Fuso, which was spun off from MMC last year.
In the Yokohama accident, which occurred in January 2002, a wheel came off a Mitsubishi trailer truck and hit and killed a 29-year-old woman. It also injured her two young children.
The company told the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry the following month that the accident was due to faulty maintenance of the vehicle, although it knew there were defects in the wheel hubs of some of its large vehicles, according to investigative sources.
Investigators plan to establish a criminal case against Mitsubishi Motors, as they believe the company as a whole was responsible for the accident because it failed to carry out adequate safety measures, the sources said.
Police termed the latest case extremely malicious because MMC had been fined in 2000 in connection with covering up defects.
Yoichiro Okazaki, who recently took over as MMC chairman and president, and Michio Hori, chairman of Mitsubishi Fuso, apologized at a news conference Thursday evening for the fatal accident.
Okazaki said MMC plans to upgrade its quality control department to a section that will be directly under the president's jurisdiction. It will also be given greater power, he said.
The transport ministry meanwhile filed a criminal complaint against Mitsubishi Motors with police the same day over its alleged false reporting, which constitutes a violation of the Road Trucking Vehicle Law.
Transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara said in a statement that it was very regrettable that such an incident should involve an automaker, which should place the utmost priority on dealing with issues concerning safety and the environment.
"Mitsubishi Motors was punished in 2000 for another instance of false reporting, and it is extremely deplorable that it has again perpetrated the same act," he said in a statement.
He said the ministry would again call on relevant parties to act appropriately in cases requiring a recall as well as review the recall system and improve it if necessary.
Mitsubishi Fuso began recalling its vehicles in March to replace the defective hubs, retracting its earlier claims that faulty maintenance had caused a series of accidents, including the fatal one in Yokohama.
Altogether, 33 accidents involving wheels coming off Mitsubishi vehicles were reported between 1992 and the Yokohama accident in January 2002.
Police believe the MMC officials could have predicted that serious accidents would take place, the sources said.
Yoko Masuda, 55-year-old mother of Shiho Okamoto, who died in the 2002 accident, said: "It was murder systematically committed by the company. I will never forgive (MMC)."
MMC "could have improved (the defective parts) much earlier, but continued to tell lies for years," she told an afternoon news conference in Yokohama. "I can only think that such a big company is making cars that kill people."
Usami contributed to expanding the truck and bus business of Mitsubishi Motors since becoming a board member in 1995. Hanawa, an engineer involved in development projects for trucks and buses, was a close colleague of Usami in the company. Hanawa became a professor at Fukui University of Technology after leaving Mitsubishi Motors in December 2002.
Mitsubishi Fuso was spun off from Mitsubishi Motors in January 2003, with DaimlerChrysler AG, MMC's largest shareholder, holding a 65 percent stake.
Mitsubishi Motors is facing a financial crisis because DaimlerChrysler has refused to participate in a planned rescue package for the struggling automaker.
Meanwhile, in Frankfurt, a DaimlerChrysler official said the auto giant will cooperate with Japanese authorities in their investigation.
The Japan Times: May 7, 2004
YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) Police arrested seven former senior Mitsubishi Motors Corp. officials Thursday for alleged professional negligence resulting in death and injury and the filing of false reports to authorities on vehicle defects related to a fatal truck accident in Yokohama in 2002.
The seven include Takashi Usami, 63, former chairman of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp., who was vice president of MMC at the time of the accident, and Akio Hanawa, 63, former Mitsubishi Motors managing director. Usami stepped down as Mitsubishi Fuso chairman April 26.
In the morning, Kanagawa Prefectural Police officials raided the Tokyo headquarters of truck and bus maker Mitsubishi Fuso, which was spun off from MMC last year.
In the Yokohama accident, which occurred in January 2002, a wheel came off a Mitsubishi trailer truck and hit and killed a 29-year-old woman. It also injured her two young children.
The company told the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry the following month that the accident was due to faulty maintenance of the vehicle, although it knew there were defects in the wheel hubs of some of its large vehicles, according to investigative sources.
Investigators plan to establish a criminal case against Mitsubishi Motors, as they believe the company as a whole was responsible for the accident because it failed to carry out adequate safety measures, the sources said.
Police termed the latest case extremely malicious because MMC had been fined in 2000 in connection with covering up defects.
Yoichiro Okazaki, who recently took over as MMC chairman and president, and Michio Hori, chairman of Mitsubishi Fuso, apologized at a news conference Thursday evening for the fatal accident.
Okazaki said MMC plans to upgrade its quality control department to a section that will be directly under the president's jurisdiction. It will also be given greater power, he said.
The transport ministry meanwhile filed a criminal complaint against Mitsubishi Motors with police the same day over its alleged false reporting, which constitutes a violation of the Road Trucking Vehicle Law.
Transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara said in a statement that it was very regrettable that such an incident should involve an automaker, which should place the utmost priority on dealing with issues concerning safety and the environment.
"Mitsubishi Motors was punished in 2000 for another instance of false reporting, and it is extremely deplorable that it has again perpetrated the same act," he said in a statement.
He said the ministry would again call on relevant parties to act appropriately in cases requiring a recall as well as review the recall system and improve it if necessary.
Mitsubishi Fuso began recalling its vehicles in March to replace the defective hubs, retracting its earlier claims that faulty maintenance had caused a series of accidents, including the fatal one in Yokohama.
Altogether, 33 accidents involving wheels coming off Mitsubishi vehicles were reported between 1992 and the Yokohama accident in January 2002.
Police believe the MMC officials could have predicted that serious accidents would take place, the sources said.
Yoko Masuda, 55-year-old mother of Shiho Okamoto, who died in the 2002 accident, said: "It was murder systematically committed by the company. I will never forgive (MMC)."
MMC "could have improved (the defective parts) much earlier, but continued to tell lies for years," she told an afternoon news conference in Yokohama. "I can only think that such a big company is making cars that kill people."
Usami contributed to expanding the truck and bus business of Mitsubishi Motors since becoming a board member in 1995. Hanawa, an engineer involved in development projects for trucks and buses, was a close colleague of Usami in the company. Hanawa became a professor at Fukui University of Technology after leaving Mitsubishi Motors in December 2002.
Mitsubishi Fuso was spun off from Mitsubishi Motors in January 2003, with DaimlerChrysler AG, MMC's largest shareholder, holding a 65 percent stake.
Mitsubishi Motors is facing a financial crisis because DaimlerChrysler has refused to participate in a planned rescue package for the struggling automaker.
Meanwhile, in Frankfurt, a DaimlerChrysler official said the auto giant will cooperate with Japanese authorities in their investigation.
The Japan Times: May 7, 2004
haha 4 million yen is around $40k US but I guess when your parents stop giving you an allowance 40k is quite a bit.
It's too bad they won't own-up to their faulty crankwalk-prone engines in the US. At least there's now a recall (after 15 years finally) on their transfer cases that leak oil, and then "catastrophically" fail, locking up all the wheels at highway speeds.
-Jesse
-Jesse
QUOTE(Enigma_Man @ May 7 2004, 08:56 AM)
It's too bad they won't own-up to their faulty crankwalk-prone engines in the US. At least there's now a recall (after 15 years finally) on their transfer cases that leak oil, and then "catastrophically" fail, locking up all the wheels at highway speeds.
-Jesse
-Jesse
Just what is it that causes crankwalk in the engines?
There are many different ideas as to what can cause it, but nobody's really narrowed it down to one thing specifically.
The overall situation is the crank bearings wear out prematurely. What exactly is causing it is unknown, but related to and generally attributed to both clutch spring pressure, and oil starvation. It seems most pronounced on the "7-bolt" 4G63 engine found in the second-gen DSMs, which has the most cases of crankwalk.
I can't find the photo, but some guys with too much time on their hands, and a big saw cut a 4g63 engine in half to find out
-Jesse
The overall situation is the crank bearings wear out prematurely. What exactly is causing it is unknown, but related to and generally attributed to both clutch spring pressure, and oil starvation. It seems most pronounced on the "7-bolt" 4G63 engine found in the second-gen DSMs, which has the most cases of crankwalk.
I can't find the photo, but some guys with too much time on their hands, and a big saw cut a 4g63 engine in half to find out
-Jesse
then the world is short a 4G. thanks a lot.
does this affect the new EVO's? I know it's basically limited to the 2nd gen DSM's but I thought gen I was the 7 bolt and gen II wasn't...
does this affect the new EVO's? I know it's basically limited to the 2nd gen DSM's but I thought gen I was the 7 bolt and gen II wasn't...
Early Gen1's were the "6-bolts", late Gen1's and all Gen2's were "7-bolts". All of the 7-bolts except for the last year or two of the Gen2's were "more" affected by crankwalk statistically. They seem to have fixed the issue though, and it does not appear to affect the Evolutions.
-Jesse
-Jesse
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