Toray Admits Falsifying Quality Data on Carbon Fiber

Carbon fiber supplier Toray Industries Inc. is the latest Japanese company to admit it has been falsifying data about the quality of its products, the Financial Times reports.

Toray makes carbon fibers that are used by carmakers in such applications as structural components, drive shafts, pressure containers and battery electrodes. The company says the doctored data came from Toray Hybrid Cord Inc., a unit that makes other materials for tires and assorted automotive components.

The chemical giant says it discovered the data tampering, which occurred between 2008 and 2016 and involved products sold to more than a dozen companies, more than a year ago. It decided not to mention the problem publicly because an internal investigation found no safety issues, and the company implemented measures to end the cheating.

But President Akihiro Nikkaku told reporters earlier today that Toray changed its mind about going public after a whistleblower reported similar cases of falsified quality reports elsewhere at Toray.

The company joins an expanding Japanese industrial scandal that also involves data manipulation at Kobe Steel, Nissan, Subaru and Mitsubishi Materials. FT says Toray’s admission is especially damaging because its former president and chairman heads Keidanren, one of Japan’s most powerful business lobbying groups.