Japan's Kobe Steel reveals data fabrication

Japan's Kobe Steel Ltd. said on Sunday that some of its aluminum and copper products were subjected to data fabrication in the past few years.

The company said the inspection data of the products, including those on strength, were rewritten by workers who were "under pressure" to meet a deadline when the actual data failed to meet customer specifications.

The products in question have been shipped to some 200 companies. Though Kobe Steel did not disclose the names of the companies affected, local media said vehicles made by Toyota Motor Corp. and the Mitsubishi Regional Jet passenger planes had used the problematic products.

The Mitsubishi Regional Jet passenger planes, currently being developed by a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy, have been intended to be Japan's first domestically developed jet airliner.

Toyota, meanwhile, said that it has begun an investigation into which models of its cars had used the products in question and the possible impacts.

Kobe Steel said it found out the data fabrication in August, but did not reveal it to the public until ordered by the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry to do so.

It denied that its senior management was involved in the malpractice.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)