'Collective Failure’ at Mitsubishi led to fuel fraud

TOKYO: An investigation of practices at Mitsubishi Motors found a corporate culture where workers couldn’t push back against management demands and infighting between departments contributed to a fuel-economy manipulation scandal that’s led to a rescue from Nissan Motor.

It was a systemic failure that led to the cheating and the blame can’t be pinned on any one department, according to a panel of outside experts appointed by Mitsubishi to investigate its mileage testing practices. Among its other failings, the investigators cited a weak sense of the law, lack of unity among the rank-and-file with management, and a reluctance to acknowledge that ambitious mileage targets couldn’t be met.

"The problem is not only with the testing, certification, or the development department," Yoshiro Sakata, one of the investigators appointed by the company, said at a briefing in Tokyo on Tuesday. "It’s a collective failure of Mitsubishi Motors as a whole, starting from the management."

The findings are an indictment of the leadership at Mitsubishi Motors, which restarted the production of its minicar after a two month suspension.