Toyota, Honda hit by 'defective steel scandal'

By Jhoo Dong-chan

Japan’s third-largest steelmaker Kobe Steel, embroiled in a scandal over the quality of its aluminum and copper products used in cars, is causing concern in Korea about the quality of imported vehicles from Japan.

Kobe Steel has admitted to having supplied substandard metal products to about 200 Japanese firms, including Toyota, Honda and Nissan, according to multiple Japanese media outlets. The growing scandal suggests Japanese carmakers could have used the defective products in their exported vehicles. If proven, the case will likely lead to massive recalls.

“Certain models were found to have Kobe Steel products in Japan, but it hasn’t yet been confirmed whether those vehicles were exported to Korea from Japan. Nissan headquarters in Japan is investigating,” a Nissan Korea official said. “It is too early to comment. We will reach out to our customers and media as soon as we learn more.”

Toyota Korea is also investigating whether its imported vehicles contained defective aluminum.

“We are looking into whether the defective products could have been used in imported vehicles sold in Korea,” said a Toyota Korea official. “We will come up with countermeasures as soon as we finish our review.”

Honda Korea, which issued an official apology to customers for rust discovered on its SUV models last month, also took a similar stance. The Japanese carmaker began looking into the case after receiving consumer complaints in August about rust in some parts of the vehicle, and admitted it discovered corrosion in beam clamps used in dashboards on CR-V SUVs, which began being delivered in May.

Kobe Steel said it has found one case of falsified data on iron ore powder -- mainly used in vehicle parts such as gears -- that had been shipped to customers. It follows Kobe’s admission at the weekend that it had falsified figures about the strength and durability of its aluminum and copper products, which are mostly used in the transport and defense industries.

Kobe Steel’s partner firms, of which the steelmaker said about 200 were affected, are reportedly carrying out safety tests. The affected companies include not only Toyota, Nissan and Honda but also Ford and Mazda as well as aircraft makers Boeing and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The head offices of Toyota, Nissan and Honda in Japan have all confirmed that they used the aluminum supplied by Kobe in hoods and doors.