Toyo Tire & Rubber has been found to have falsified performance data for earthquake-resistant rubber products that were used in buildings in Japan. This news was released by the Company President Takuji Yamamoto, in a press conference last week. “We have to once again review our compliance programme,” he said. “There was no system of checks in place.” The data was falsified by an employee who single-handedly conducted performance tests for more than ten years until February 2014, according to company officials.
Some of the products sold by the company that had been certified by the Infrastructure Ministry failed to meet government-set safety standards, according to the Ministry. The company apparently submitted falsified data to the Ministry for certification of three products designed to mitigate earthquake shaking, beginning in 2006. The Ministry has since revoked the three products’ certifications.
In a period between July 2004 and February this year, the Osaka-based company marketed five substandard products, including the above three. They were used in 55 buildings, including hospitals, apartments and government buildings, in 18 prefectures. Earthquake resistance values at all of the 55 buildings came in below the required level. Thankfully, so far there has been no report of any damages.