Stupidity! Nissan Motors Faces "Indefinite" Surveillance by the Government

Due to the long-term use of unqualified personnel to carry out safety inspections of vehicles and poor rectification, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan decided to place Nissan Motor Co.'s new factory inspection system on the list of targets for surveillance. The term is "indefinite." During the surveillance period, Nissan Motors must frequently submit inspections of all its factories to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported on the 26th that it is rare for the government to issue an indefinite monitoring order to Nissan. Mitsubishi Motors, which was exposed to the fuel consumption fraud scandal last year, has also been closely monitored by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, but the deadline is three years.

In September this year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism conducted a surprise inspection of the Nissan automobile manufacturing plant in Japan and found that it used unqualified personnel to conduct automobile factory safety inspections. After the problem was exposed, Nissan Motor did not conduct a thorough rectification, and some factory-unqualified inspectors were still on duty. Subsequent investigations also revealed that Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. uses “unguyed” factory safety inspections at all domestic factories for many years using unqualified inspectors.

The pre-delivery safety inspection of the new car was supposed to be carried out by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. However, to facilitate large-scale sales, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport allowed manufacturers that passed new product type tests to complete the inspection of each new car on their own. The inspector holds a national qualification certificate to ensure the authenticity of the results.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport believes that Nissan Motor’s use of unqualified inspectors “passed away from the trust of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism”. A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism officials said: "Nissan's actions may harm the overall reputation of the Japanese automobile manufacturing industry and can only be dealt with seriously at this stage."

Asahi Shimbun said that the specific supervision methods of Nissan by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport have not yet been determined. In the near future, Nissan Motors may be required to submit preventive measures and frequently report on implementation. In the future, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will increase the sampling of Nissan’s factories and conduct more rigorous investigations.

Affected by the scandal, Nissan Motor has completely suspended shipments and registration of new cars from six automakers in Japan.