Daihatsu Announces Recall Of Three Commercial Vehicles, In The Aftermath Of Technical Verification Failure In Japan

Daihatsu Gran Max. (Doc. Daihatsu Japan)

JAKARTA - Daihatsu again gave news about the certification error made and informed the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism (MLIT) regarding the recall on the Gran Max model, Town Ace labeled Toyota, and Bongo branded Mazda.

This also follows the news that the three models were set not to meet the standards of road transportation laws based on the results of technical verification at the end of last June in Japan.

Previously, Daihatsu set that recall needs to be made after technical verification including standard conformity confirmation testing by MLIT revealed that the vehicle did not meet the standards," Daihatsu wrote on its official website, Monday, July 8.

It was reported that the trigger for the recall was due to a lack of testing of batteries on vehicles during development, so there was a risk that this component could move excessively, freely, and fail to withstand collisions from behind.

In the report, the number of affected Gran Max models amounted to 559 production units from September 11, 2020 to December 19, 2023. Then, the Town Ace model under the Toyota brand was the largest with 18,282 assembled units from September 7, 2020 to December 12, 2023.

Finally, this program involved Mazda Bongo with a total of 3,775 units in the production period from September 11, 2020 to December 12, 2023.

Manufacturers will address this problem by ensuring battery equipment in all vehicles is replaced with corrective and retaining parts to be added.

"Because repair parts preparation takes time, customers will be notified once they are ready for replacement," added Daihatsu.

In January, safety problems were found in the Gran Max model after conducting a hit test held by MLIT.

In the hit test, this white Gran Max unit drove at a speed of 50 km/h and hit the wall that the dumpmy was carrying. As a result, safety hazards were found in the vehicle.

According to the local government during airbag testing, it was found that this device was activated based on a time controller. Although, this also needs to be ensured that the airbag is automatically detected by the sensor.

Apart from Gran Max, two other models were also tested by the Ministry, such as Toyota Town Ace and Mazda Bongo. Thus, MLTI instructed to stop sending affected vehicles and revoke safety certification.