Mitsubishi Materials Admits to Falsifying Quality Data

Mitsubishi Materials Corp. says certain products made by three of its affiliates failed to meet company or customer standards but were shipped anyway.

The disclosure is the latest involving falsified performance and quality reports by Japanese companies. Others tainted by the widening scandal are Kobe Steel, Nissan Motor and Subaru.

The company says it doesn’t believe any of the affected products violate laws or regulations. But it also says it decided to reveal the cheating because of the need to “immediately check on the safety” of the products.

Mitsubishi Materials admits is became aware of falsified inspection reports in February but didn’t suspend deliveries of the non-conforming products until it completed an internal investigation in late October. The doctored documents relate to hardness, tensile strength, electrical conductivity and surface roughness.

It isn’t clear how long ago the fabricated reports began. But the company says the bogus materials were supplied to more than 200 companies in the aerospace, automotive and industrial equipment industries. Affected products include gaskets, brass used in auto parts and copper used in electrical and electronic devices.

Mitsubishi Materials also supplied customers with non-conforming aluminum products. But the company says it has confirmed with affected customers that there are no safety issues with those items.​​​