Japanese Automakers Deem Kobe Steel Products Safe for Vehicles

The metal produced by Kobe Steel may have been weaker than advertised, but according to the automakers, it met their own and regulators' safety standards.
Oct. 19, 2017

Oct. 19, 2017—After investigating materials produced by Kobe Steel, Toyota, Honda and Mazda said they don't believe materials produced by the aluminum supplier pose a danger to vehicles our their occupants, according to a New York Times report

The metal produced by Kobe Steel may have been weaker than advertised, but according to the automakers, it met their own and regulators' safety standards. 

In many cases, the aluminum appears to have been used in parts that are not crucial to safety.

FenderBender reported that millions of Toyota and Honda vehicles could be at a crash risk because the incorrectly rated aluminum was used to produce vehicles for both automakers over the last 10 years. 

Another Japanese automaker, Mitsubishi Motors, vouched for the safety of Kobe Steel aluminum on Wednesday, according to the New York Times report.

Kobe Steel also promised to complete in two weeks its own investigation into potential safety hazards related to the data falsification and to deliver results of those findings within a month. 

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