Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors is in big trouble. The company just admitted that they have been falsifying fuel economy tests for the last 25 years. This is apparently not the first scandal in the car brand’s history.
According to the New York Times, Mitsubishi’s reputation had already suffered in 2001, when it was revealed that it had hidden the presence of major defects in their vehicles. Now 15 years later, the company admits to giving its cars “exaggerated fuel ratings” since 1991. The company said that these falsified tests affected at least 620,000 vehicles sold in Japan since 2013.
It’s unclear whether this affects other markets, or exactly which models this cheating affects, as well as who ordered the cheating. The cheating, however, was first discovered in its microcars:
Mitsubishi has been reviewing its tests since the revelations that it had cheated on ones for the mileage ratings of small-engine microcars that it sells in Japan and supplies to another Japanese automaker, Nissan, through a joint venture agreement. Nissan engineers discovered the discrepancy last year, the company said.
Since then, according to the BBC, Mitsubishi has opened an investigation, which will be led by three lawyers. Says company president Tetsuro Aikawa, “We don’t know the whole picture and we are in the process of trying to determine that. I feel a great responsibility.”
(via the New York Times)