Toyota Motor Corp.'s small-car unit, Daihatsu Motor Co., resumed operations at all of its assembly plants in Japan on Tuesday, more than four months after it halted domestic production due to safety test rigging.
The automaker restarted production of Copen minivehicles at its main factory in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, earlier in the day, the last of its four assembly plants in Japan to resume output.
Daihatsu has gradually restarted domestic production since February following a reexamination of its safety standards by the transport ministry, with a shipment ban covering all of its 27 models lifted in April.
The other three factories are located in Kyoto, Oita, and Shiga prefectures.
The suspension of the plants, which came after Daihatsu admitted in December to rigging safety data for most of its models, led to a plunge in the country's industrial output in January and cast doubt over the safety of the Toyota group's vehicles.
"We will make efforts to produce cars more carefully than before so we can ensure good product quality," the automaker said in a statement on Tuesday.
A third-party panel appointed by Daihatsu found the safety test rigging dated back to 1989 and blamed "an extremely tight and rigid development schedule" for the misconduct.
Toyota said in April it will tighten its grip on Daihatsu, vowing to take charge of development and safety approval for some of the models the unit has been handling.
