Photo: Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi’s MPG Gate is uncovering sordid details similar to Volkswagen’s Dieselgate scandal.
In the case of Mitsubishi, a special investigative committee has discovered that one of the automaker’s employees found that the company had been using a different method of measuring fuel-efficiency, which was distinct from that required by government regulations as early as 2005.
The unnamed employee was a recent hire at the time of discovery, and he notified his superiors. According to Asahi, the employee’s requests have not brought any changes in Mitsubishi’s cheating scheme, even if the whole situation was uncovered by someone that had been hired for a month in a company workshop.
The report generated by the investigation team had revealed that over 20 company officials, including senior members of the testing department, had heard the employee’s demands to cease the cheating scheme. Upon inquiry from investigators, high-level company officials denied that they had heard such requests.
The committee’s report has concluded that they find it difficult to accept the explanations provided by the high-ranking officials, as such a problem would have undoubtedly made a substantial impact when coming from a new employee. The same employee had presented his dissatisfaction in an in-house questionnaire, which was submitted to the company for review, but without any success.
At the time of discovery, the current chairperson and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, Osamu Masuko, had become president of the company for just one month. Masuko told the Japanese media that he did not recognize the presence of the employee recommendations, nor his responses in the in-house questionnaire.
Some blame Mitsubishi's company structure for allowing this cheating scheme to appear and thrive. As previously reported, the Japanese company had little communication between departments, but the environment was competitive enough to make some employees willing to cheat so that their department could get ahead of others.
Mr. Masuko has explained that he felt that the company “lacked unity,” and that this led to the possibility of such problems being undetected and unsolved for so long.
The unnamed employee was a recent hire at the time of discovery, and he notified his superiors. According to Asahi, the employee’s requests have not brought any changes in Mitsubishi’s cheating scheme, even if the whole situation was uncovered by someone that had been hired for a month in a company workshop.
The report generated by the investigation team had revealed that over 20 company officials, including senior members of the testing department, had heard the employee’s demands to cease the cheating scheme. Upon inquiry from investigators, high-level company officials denied that they had heard such requests.
The committee’s report has concluded that they find it difficult to accept the explanations provided by the high-ranking officials, as such a problem would have undoubtedly made a substantial impact when coming from a new employee. The same employee had presented his dissatisfaction in an in-house questionnaire, which was submitted to the company for review, but without any success.
At the time of discovery, the current chairperson and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, Osamu Masuko, had become president of the company for just one month. Masuko told the Japanese media that he did not recognize the presence of the employee recommendations, nor his responses in the in-house questionnaire.
Some blame Mitsubishi's company structure for allowing this cheating scheme to appear and thrive. As previously reported, the Japanese company had little communication between departments, but the environment was competitive enough to make some employees willing to cheat so that their department could get ahead of others.
Mr. Masuko has explained that he felt that the company “lacked unity,” and that this led to the possibility of such problems being undetected and unsolved for so long.
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