The Japanese Safety Issue

To their consternation, the Japanese have discovered that auto safety is not only a U.S. issue. A check by the New York Times with the U.S. National Highway Safety Bureau disclosed last month that the Japanese Big Two--Toyota and Nissan--had been secretly recalling defective cars sold in the U.S. Alarmed, the Japanese Diet demanded that all twelve Japanese automakers reveal the extent of engineering flaws. Public dismay grew as both the press and the national police began investigating accidents that could have been caused by defective cars.

By last week the automakers had listed approximately 2,500,000 autos as potentially defective. Although recalls have begun, 52% of those cars--or one out of every ten on Japan's crowded roads--are still unrepaired. In the U.S., a market that they have only lately penetrated, Japanese companies have had to call back 163,700 autos since 1966.

Toyota executives admitted that 63,000 of their 1969 Coronas are being recalled in the U.S. because of a possibly faulty seal in the brake-fluid reservoir. In Japan, 529,000 Coronas made between 1964 and 1968 have brakes that might malfunction because of rusting brake lines. Nissan executives also revealed that there are potential defects in 300,000 of their cars, including 39,000 of the 1969 Datsuns exported to the U.S. Other manufacturers listed shift levers that snap off, front suspensions that can be bent by rough roads, disk brakes that are not reliable and axle assemblies that burn out.

Fear is driving buyers from the showrooms, and auto sales in Japan have slowed markedly in the past few weeks. If the trend continues, Japanese manufacturers may not realize their ambition to overtake the West Germans this year as the world's second-largest car producers. Nissan President Katsuji Kawamata concedes that the automakers have been more concerned with marketing than with safety. To ensure continued candor by the industry, the Diet is drawing up legislation to force the automakers to report defective cars and publicly recall them for repairs.

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