Suzuki Motors has become the latest automaker to admit that they have falsified fuel economy tests in the past, but denied that they cheated emission tests.
The head of the Japanese based industrial company admitted that they did not use proper standards when they tested their vehicles for fuel consumption. Auto Blog reported that CEO Osamu Suzuki apologized for the wrongdoing of the company specifically the fact that they did not follow rules set by the country.
Suzuki, however, maintained that the company did not mislead the public or the government regulators nor did they cheat regarding their vehicles' economy figures. It has been found out just this week after Japan's transport ministry ordered domestic automakers to resubmit the economy figures in compliance with government testing methods.
BBC reported that Suzuki said in their statement that the testing method for 16 models of their vehicles were not in line with official regulations. However, the latest tests reportedly showed no discrepancies. After the announcement, the company's shares fell nine percent. Suzuki added that their engineers cut corners by extrapolating the running resistance from past tests instead of running multiple tests in order to come up with an average.
This is not the first time that scrutiny over emission tests and data have hit Japan automakers. The New York Times reported that earlier this week, Mitsubishi admitted that their engineers used unapproved test procedures as well as exaggerated the fuel performance by as much as 15 percent of some of their vehicle models. As a result, the president of Mitsubishi Motors, Tetsuro Aikawa, stepped down from his post.
In an attempt to save Mitsubishi, Nissan Motor bought one-third of the company becoming its new partner and financial savior. However, South Korea's environmental regulators accused Nissan of cheating fuel tests.
Suzuki is Japan's fourth largest car company following Toyota, Nissan, and Honda. Suzuki withdrew from the North American market four years ago. It has sales strength in the Kei car segment and motorized products like ATVs, motorcycles, and many more.
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