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Suzuki Motor blames lack of resources for using wrong mileage tests

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A manufacturer with poor resources should cease from making automobiles till they do.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

“It’s become clear that we must follow Japanese regulations or else we will not recover from this issue,” said Chairman >>Osamu Suzuki. “Cheating is cheating.”

When did it become clear ? When exposed ? Plainly unbelievable, we are living in an era, where you can now publicly announce you have been"cheating" systematically for the last 6 years, send the evidences to the Japan’s transport ministry, with no fear of any penalty.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

What a crock. Even a 10 year old could make up a better excuse than that.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Awesome J-INC self regulated and never fined's attitude....since when "lack of resources" has been an excuse for fraud and cheating consumers ?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Lack of resources...a lot of companies are complaining they cannot find the skilled workers but then if you do not fit their perfect profile - i.e., straight out of university, or over 30, or having worked for a dispatch company, or having changed jobs too many times in their view - they will not even talk to people. So they auto-exclude 'resources' who could help them (and often 'resources' with the experience to prevent these cock-ups).

4 ( +4 / -0 )

If Suzuki are unable to follow the law they should cease production. The company just made a record profit of $1 billion; to blame a "lack of resources" for their lawbreaking is a lie. I blame overbearing management setting unrealistic targets.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

“It’s become clear that we must follow Japanese regulations or else we will not recover from this issue,” said Chairman Osamu Suzuki. “Cheating is cheating.”

sorry you were caught

3 ( +4 / -1 )

"It’s become clear that we must follow Japanese regulations..."

So, it wasn't clear until now?? I wonder if I can break the law for a few years and then just say, "oh! Now it's clear I should follow the law!"

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Should make a national governing body and test center for fuel economy figures. = Every vehicle will do the same test by a 3rd party.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Suzuki said incorrect fuel tests involved 14 of its branded models, rather than the 16 it initially reported, while 12 models sold under other brands were also affected, up from 11.

Can they get anything right?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

If some of their models had reported lower gas mileage than actual numbers, I would believe they had made a mistake from a "lack of resources." Since they were all over reported, it's obvious that this was plain cheating.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Testing methods should be left over to the industry, allowing room for innovation. The only rule should be that "you are honest in how you represent your mileage tests to your customers", JHMO

no they should not. here, i'm with the gov't. if car manufacturers were allowed to create any test to determine mileage, the numbers would be all over the place, and consumers would have a hard time doing comparison buying. let's call a duck a duck: suzuki took the easy way out instead to maximize profits.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

"lack of resource", lol, I worked in a big company before, they were making millions on pure profit every year on the product line I was a member of. When the team asked for a critical software with a one time cost of a few thousand dollars, management said "we have no budget", and told the team to spend time instead to develop such software in-house.

Another problem of Japan-inc, distrust anything not made by their "in group" companies, waste too much time building the basic stuffs that in the end the cost doesn't justify the end product.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Looks like VW is not alone in this scam....

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Incredibly P A T H E T I C excuse. Spare us, please. Their ill-gotten gains must be TAKEN AWAY from them.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

It's true that regulations should be abided by.

But IMHO it's also true that there are lots of useless regulations in Japan that do not produce sufficient benefits to justify their costs. While they should be abided by while they are in effect, Japan needs to do a thorough overhaul of its regulations in order to fire up innovation, nimble business and thus economic growth.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

“It’s become clear that we must follow Japanese regulations or else we will not recover from this issue,” Actually what probably became "clear", is Japan's Transport Ministry might be finally enforcing regulations. Again... possibly another example of the coziness between Japan's manufacturers and Govt Officials. Amakudari and Mizushobai.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Did I miss the bowing that absolves all crimes of fraud and cheating that should otherwise garner massive fines and jail time?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Bet they didn't " lack resources " to pay those nice fat bonuses to management and board

Do you have some actual numbers to back that up?

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

"Correct" tests are the ones that are mandated by some bunch of bureaucrats, but does that make it worthwhile?

new tests conducted on the most fuel-efficient versions of affected models showed mileage that exceeded levels stated in sales catalogues

Oh what a tragedy! Better mileage than advertised, don't you just want your money back?

I am totally in favour of Suzuki here, they used their own heads, and produced superior outcomes for their customers.

There is an argument that rules are rules and should be followed, but my takeaway is that the rules here are stupid. Testing methods should be left over to the industry, allowing room for innovation. The only rule should be that "you are honest in how you represent your mileage tests to your customers", JHMO.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

if car manufacturers were allowed to create any test to determine mileage, the numbers would be all over the place, and consumers would have a hard time doing comparison buying.

JMHO, but I don't think it's government's responsibility to make rules for evaluating every product under the sun in order for consumers to be able to make informed decisions.

As a consumer, I frankly don't care what government says about anything. I don't ask them which smartphone I should buy, so why should I where cars are concerned? I'd rather products were just cheaper, and I'll decide. I don't want as an end-user to being paying money for compliance with what some bureaucrat has decided. That isn't value for me.

And as per the article in Suzuki's case they ran "new tests" and results "showed mileage that exceeded levels stated in sales catalogues". It's not that Suzuki deceived consumers about the actual mileage - only that they didn't test the mileage in accordance with some central planner's rules.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

a lot of the newbies to Japan have stopped trying to defend it as being some sort of safe haven

Japan is a safe haven.

And no, I'm not a newbie.

yes its a safer country than many others

It's a safer country than almost every other.

bad things, happen often enough.

Yep, but not nearly as bad as often as almost every other country in the world.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

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