Subaru admits uncertified staff checked vehicles for more than 30 years

This is a good time to announce this.  There are so many quality control, accounting, and other scandals that now maybe nobody will notice.  They think.

Not having X-ray eyes, it is hard to say, but I suspect too that the 'final inspection' was always just a rubber stamp process as the company maintained serious pride in the finish of its products.

All vehicle manufacturers have inspectors, it's the last line of defence to pick up production errors (and put them right) on a complex machine that has to protect its occupants at high speed. As far as me and mine's safety is concerned the inspector better be trained and experienced.

Its a testament to their robust production processes that this hasn't come to light sooner. However there has been a huge increase in the number of recalls and dealer service actions issued over the last 10/15 years. Without investigating road accident statistics, who's to know the full cost in lives and injuries of the of the failure to inspect properly?

If an unqualified inspector has to use a certified inspector's hanko, then not only has a fraud been committed, the certified guy has knowingly accepted responsibility for a car he hasn't seen. That's a level of stupid I wouldn't want in my business.

Level of being numbskull is unbelievable. Bureaucrat halloween.

Another blow 2 Japan Inc

A bit amazing so many seem to want to give a free pass on this stuff!

Anyone who has lived here has witnessed scandal after scandal in food, electronics, medicines(Green Cross anyone!) or what about Olympus!!

This is EVERYWHERE & what is equally obvious of the Govt regulatory authorities have ALSO been negligent for many many decades industry wide as they have NEVER caught any offenders, or they have covered them up....

Either way the end result is in Japan as I have said there is essentially NO inspection or safety regulations being enforced AT ALL. The only time these seem to kick in on is for imports!! Domestic industry, can do as it pleases!

Reminds of the old saying here, Anything is OK until you get CAUGHT!

NEXT!

Agree that the "certification" process here may be just nonsense. The fact that there aren't widescale car fatalities and injuries and recalls indicates that the safety measures implemented in the production of the cars has been sufficient, although this inspection process should be corrected ASAP.

4 wheels on the ground - Check

1 wheel where driver sits - Check

Inspection Passed, this is a car

I'm so sick of seeing this bowing in apology gesture. It happens so often it's freaking meaningless

The lack of meaningful punishments (since the old boys set the rules and thus the punishments) is what makes this worth it.

Earlier this year a massive Japanese medical supplier, who makes 100,000s of vaccinations a year admitted to inventing labels and cheapening its products. They had lied about their medicines and kidz vaccinations for decades.

They were punished by having to close shop for 2 months.

this nation's prized image for "monozukuri" or craftsman-like production, reputed for high quality and meticulousness.

This is a myth, with few exceptions in the electronic components manufacturing, Japan has never been a country producing high quality products. It has been doing more relatively low grade products manufactured for large volumes and in fact a lot of junk is produced and sold here.

The Japanese car makers alone have on a regular basis recall cars by millions for years and for multiple kinds of technical problems, some of them like Mazda last year recalling cars dating back to the 80s.

My 2011 Subaru Legacy have been recalled three times so far to fix defects; my wife’s Honda Ariwave has been recalled two times.

Another example among many of other ones is the really poor quality of housing: really poor air and noise isolation, outdated heating systems, ugly design, overuse of plastic and so on.

I've got it now.

you absolutely must bow really deeply and hold that position until...

....you stop smiling!

It's all about lack of oversight and psuedo quality control.

Can't but wonder if the people doing supposed safety checks for nuke restarts are equally well qualified and certified.

how many components were suplied by Kobe Steel?

agreed reckless. do you really need some special qualification to inspect a car? does GM or BMW have these inspectors too? seems like an OIJ (only in japan) thing.

30 years of lying, irrespective of its usefulness is still 30 years of lying. They had a requirement to check and have not. If it was as useless as it seems to have been couldn't they point this out and change the regulations rather than lyin. But it's Japan and too difficult to change best to lie. For 30 years.

30 years... There goes the 'japan quality' myth.

What's the difference between a certified staff member and an uncertified one? Is that the REAL reason flawed machines were sold or is this a cover up?

No integrity and no honor. A couple of deep bows while producing endless tears and yelling we're so sorry will make it go away.

Man, I guffawed the moment I saw the photo without even reading the title or caption, "Who is it now?"

More dirty shoes being inspected.

will there be another big reveal before the end of October? The benefit is now while the others take the heat

Chop Chop "Those unqualified inspectors did not have qualification but they may have some experienced in fault inspection. There's no problem in certification process of car if the Company use correct methods to inspect the car."

The inspectors are uncertified because they have not yet reached the required standard to be certified. If the company had unqualified staff perform the role of qualified staff, the company did not use the correct methods to inspect the car. You can try to spin it but Subaru's behaviour was unacceptable and the impact on their reputation is well earned.

Subaru's production values have their roots in the aircraft industry, a generally unforgiving environment; and as others have written, their build quality is recognized. This whole business may be a case of a certifier (experienced worker w/ licence) rubber-stamping the product of another member ( experienced worker w/o licence).

Admittedly I don't know much about the final check process, but having seen documentaries on car production lines it kind of seems that the person doing that job can only really see obvious issues which would be seen by the dealer/buyer anyway, or would present themselves quite quickly (ie under warranty). Especially with so much electronics in cars nowadays it should be really quite easy to spot issues. Of course, cars 30 years ago probably not so much...

Just waiting for the announcement regarding Water quality, particularly an Admission over the contamination aspect following Fukushima's meltdown and how it impacted the Tap water we used.

30 years... There goes the 'japan quality' myth

why is it a myth? Even with this issue their cars are solid and have been for many years.

Other Governments do not investigate on their car Companies whether they have used unqualified inspectors or not. 

So Japanese government inspectors actively "invesigate" quality control? If so, they're doing a really bad job if it takes them 20 to 40 years to uncover systematic misconduct.

Since Japanese carmakers are the undisputed leaders in quality worldwide with "flawed inspections," imagine how much greatness that would happen with "certified" inspectors!

Is there one single Japanese company that doesn't lie?

being not certified means you could claim innocence (i.e. i didnt know what i was doing! you can't blame me, im no mechanic, they made me do it. i have a family to feed)

More than 30 years! The dominos are falling!

If you buy the Subaru,unload it at around 90K miles. Bail out before the warped/cracked heads,and converter failures catch up to you. They can be bought cheap with around 120-140K miles on them. Wonder why...

I believed this kind of practice was not just Japanese Car Companies. Other Governments do not investigate on their car Companies whether they have used unqualified inspectors or not. The Japanese cars are still top of the customers’ satisfied car brands in the world even thought some Japanese car companies have confessed unqualified persons have final fault inspection on the cars. The shortage of skilled qualified inspector was main reason for unqualified person to inspect the final certification of product. Those unqualified inspectors did not have qualification but they may have some experienced in fault inspection. There's no problem in certification process of car if the Company use correct methods to inspect the car. If the unqualified inspector has followed the standard procedure of Company's inspection method and then there won't be problem with the car. Anyway, they will become expertise in final fault inspection of car after 30 years of inspection car with qualification.