Things Get Icy Cold At Subaru As Possible Fuel Mileage Cheating Surfaces

On the heels of improper vehicle inspections at their Gunma, Japan factory, now Subaru is looking into possible fuel tampering with respect to data on fuel consumption tests. Subaru Corporation issued a statement today on their Global news site, that they are looking into fuel-economy data issues. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Subaru was forced to issue the statement after Japanese public broadcaster NHK raised the issue.

Subaru Corporation issued the statement today after it released another report this week about inspection problems at its factories. Subaru is not confirming any fuel tampering and says they will investigate the allegations. The statement says, “So far there has not been confirmed the existence of tampering with respect to data on fuel consumption tests at the time of vehicle development or model designation reporting.”

The Wall Street Journal report says a spokesman said Subaru didn’t yet know what fuel-economy data had been affected, how many cars were involved and whether any cars with problematic data were exported from Japan to the U.S. or other global markets.

At a news conference Tuesday in Tokyo, Subaru President Yasuyuki Yoshinaga didn’t discuss fuel-mileage measurements, but the Japanese automaker said Wednesday their law firm also received information about potential problems in that area and its investigation was continuing.

According to Subaru Corp’s statement today, some of the models are pulled off the line for fuel-economy checks. The reported problem occurred during those checks in certain models for a period after mass production began.

Subaru says, “Through examination by the above external experts, we received a report from the finished inspector from the completed inspector that a remark was confirmed that there was an act of changing the measurement value in a certain period of commencement of mass production of some models when measuring the fuel consumption which is part of the sampling inspection process.”

Other fuel economy scandals have rocked the auto industry recently like Volkswagen AG with their diesel engine fuel-mileage falsification, and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said employees improperly inflated gas-mileage results on hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Subaru ended the report by saying, “As a company, we are going to start with a thorough investigation on these facts with external experts. As soon as the results of such investigation are known, we will make appropriate disclosure.” Stay tuned.

Photo credit: Subaru