Nissan Motor announced today that it will temporarily suspend production at its plants in Japan to solve the problem of irregular safety inspections at its factories which has forced it to over check one million vehicles.

Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa said that this measure is necessary to reconfigure the inspection mechanisms at the plants affected by the irregularities, at a press conference held at the company’s headquarters in Yokohama, south of Tokyo.

The company has taken this decision after verifying that the irregularities continued at three of its plants in Japan even after the problem came to light in late September, Saikawa said in statements collected by the Japanese agency Kyodo.

The CEO also said that the closure of Japanese factories will be effective from today and will last about two weeks.

Nissan admitted the problem earlier this month after it was detected by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Tourism and Transportation during inspections at its factories, prompting the manufacturer to call for a review of 1.16 million vehicles at Japan.

At the request of the Japanese authorities, Nissan will have to review the cars produced between January 2014 and September 2017 out of a total of 38 models, including 10 produced for other brands such as Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Mazda.

The Japanese authorities found that some of the checks that vehicles pass before they went on sale were carried out by inadequate staff, although reports were signed by certified workers, a practice that the Ministry called “regrettable.”

Japanese regulations establish that only certified and previously registered inspectors in the system approved by the Ministry of Transport can approve the vehicles to be exported to the Japanese market.

Last year, Nissan came to the rescue of the also Japanese Mitsubishi Motors when it was in serious economic difficulties due to the scandal of the falsification of consumption data of some of its mini-vehicles.

Mitsubishi is now controlled by the first company, which in turn is integrated into an alliance with the French Renault chaired by the Franco-Brazilian businessman Carlos Ghosn.

EFE – Tokyo EL DIARIO – 10/19/2017