US government orders Mitsubishi to retest its vehicles

Mitsubishi has now been ordered by the US Environmental Protection Agency to retest its vehicles following the revelation that it has been cheating fuel economy tests since 1991.

The Environmental Protection Agency is working closely with the California Air Resources Board, and instructed Mitsubishi to subject its new and existing vehicles to coasting tests, wherein the cars will be made to coast to a halt from 130kph to measure their aerodynamic and drivetrain drag. These new tests could change the fuel economy figures for Mitsubishis models.

Last week, the manufacturer confessed to tampering with fuel test figures of cars sold in Japan. This move affects around 6,25,000 Mitsubishi-made cars, including those produced for Nissan.  The models initially named were four superminis: the Mitsubishi eK Wagon and eK Space, and the Nissan Dayz and Dayz Roox. Of the 6,25,000 affected, 4,68,000 units are Nissan models, while 1,57,000 are Mitsubishis.

External investigation

Last week, company’s president, Tetsuro Aikawa said there could be more cars with incorrectly measured fuel economy data than originally thought, and earlier this week, the firm added to the scandal by admitting to cheating fuel economy tests across three decades.

In an official statement released on Tuesday, Mitsubishi said the committee would review related documents and data, and interview all people suspected of being involved. Once the investigation is complete, the committee will be responsible for drafting up measures to prevent a recurrence.

Japanese officials have said that Mitsubishi could be responsible for refunding customers, in a similar way to the Volkswagen deal currently underway in the States.  Late last week, Mitsubishi's second largest office in Japan was raided by government authorities following the carmaker’s original admission of falsifying fuel economy data.

The company has stopped production and sales of the affected four cars, and announced it will conduct an investigation into the products manufactured for overseas markets; this latest announcement suggests inconsistencies have been found.