Accident Reconstruction Network > News > August 2005 > 08/19/05

Accident Reconstruction News Article

TOKYO (AP) -- Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp., a Japanese truckmaker plagued by a defect cover-up scandal, said Friday it was recalling 41,548 trucks, including some of its Super Great models, to fix a part connecting the engine and transmission.

The trucks, built between November 1994 and July of this year, have bolts that can become loose, making it difficult to use the clutch and possibly impede the truck's movement, the Tokyo-based manufacturer said in a statement.

The problem has not caused any accidents, Kyodo News Agency reported.

Mitsubishi Fuso, 85 percent owned by DaimlerChrysler AG of Germany, has been embroiled in a cover-up scandal that first surfaced in 2000. At that time, the company, which was still part of Mitsubishi Motors Corp., said it had been systematically hiding auto defects for more than 20 years to avoid recalls.

In June, four former executives at scandal-plagued truckmaker Mitsubishi Fuso have returned 100 million yen (US$910,000; euro745,107.67) in retirement pay to acknowledge responsibility for a series of auto defect cover-ups.

The defects are suspected of being linked to two fatal accidents in 2002. In one accident, a tire rolled off a truck and crushed a pedestrian. In the other accident, a truck crashed after its brakes failed and killed the driver.

Mitsubishi Fuso and Mitsubishi Motors have repeatedly apologized for the scandal and the deaths, and have promised that the cover-ups won't happen again.

But both companies have had to recall thousands of vehicles, even in recent years.

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