Mitsubishi Motors will use information from customers in deciding whether a vehicle needs to be recalled, according to a business improvement plan it submitted to Japan’s transport ministry on Wednesday.
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According to Kyodo News, the submission of the improvement plan follows a warning issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in May against the automaker over a series of defect cover-ups including falsifying reports on hub defects.
Concerning the recall measures it took after a long period of customer-claim coverups were revealed in 2000, the automaker admitted in the improvement report that the measures were insufficient.
Mitsubishi Motors also noted in the report that it had reached a settlement with family members of a victim of a fatal accident in October 2002 in Yamaguchi Prefecture involving a defective Mitsubishi truck.
As a result of the revelation of defect coverup scandals, the automaker has been struggling with slumping sales of vehicles and is now seeking support from other Mitsubishi group companies.
However, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. President Kazuo Tsukuda indicated a negative stance Wednesday on providing Mitsubishi Motors with much more financial support, Kyodo News noted.
”We will do all we can to provide necessary support,” Tsukuda reportedly said in a news conference, but added that his company is unlikely to provide funds ”one after another.”
Mitsubishi Heavy contributed 40 billion yen in financial aid to Mitsubishi Motors earlier this year and Tsukuda indicated that there are other types of help than financial support, such as dispatching personnel to engage in such operations as quality control.
”We want to consider what kind of support we can provide after assessing details” in the restructuring plan to be compiled by Mitsubishi Motors in January, Tsukuda said, according to Kyodo News.
