Subject: [cwj 97] New recall scandal at Mitsubishi group
From: Corporate Watch in Japanese <cwj@corpwatch.org>
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 12:25:20 -0700
Seq: 97
September 12, 2000 New recall scandal at Mitsubishi group TOKYO, Sept 12 (AFP) - Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Tuesday it was recalling nearly 100,000 televisions in Japan, after confessing that it concealed complaints about defective sets that could burst into flames. In shades of a huge recall scandal damaging group partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp., the electrical arm came clean to the cover-up after a report in the Sankei Shimbun newspaper. Mitsubishi Electric admitted it had failed to report to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) 66 customer complaints about the defective CZ-1 and CZ-2 television sets, made from 1987 to 1990. "This problem of ignition was not something that would happen in many instances so at the time we judged it was unnecessary to report this to MITI," said company spokesman Matthew Nicholson. "But looking back from the standpoint of cause of injury or cause of property damage, that was not an appropriate judgement at the time," he acknowledged. Electronics makers are obliged to report to MITI serious faults that may threaten safety, although there is no obligation to recall such products. "We changed our judgement on our obligation to report (the faults) after the report," Mitsubishi Electric director Fumio Ookusa told a news conference. The cost of repairing the sets will be around 7,000-10,000 yendollars) each, he said. Nicholson declined to comment on whether Mitsubishi Electric would have continued the cover-up but for the Sankei Shimbun's revelations Tuesday. He added that "this affects only TVs for domestic Japanese use, there is absolutely no effect on overseas operations." A total of 50,000 CZ-1 televisions and 49,950 CZ-2s will be either recalled or repaired by Mitsubishi Electric engineers at customers' homes, the company said. It admitted it had failed to report 66 complaints about the sets, which have screens ranging from 29-37 inches (74-94 centimetres), including seven in which they emitted smoke or burst into flames. "There were six cases involving the CZ-1 series and one with the CZ-2 series resulting in flames, but nobody suffered any physical harm," Nicholson said. The problems were caused by a build-up of humidity in the TV sets affecting cooling parts on the circuit board, Mitsubishi Electric said. The case bears echoes of the scandal that has swept through Mitsubishi Motors, which confessed last month to keeping the Transport Ministry in the dark about 64,000 complaints about vehicle defects since 1977. That resulted last Friday in the resignation of Mitsubishi Motiors president Katsuhiko Kawasoe and the company had to agree to cut the price for DaimlerChrysler AG to take a 34-percent stake in the Japanese automaker. The Mitsubishi Electric spokesman declined to comment on the similarities, or on the possible damage to the electrical company's image. "Mitsubishi Motors is a separate company. I can only speak for Mitusbishi Electric," Nicholson said. FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Corporate Watch in Japanese is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. ------------------------------------- Corporate Watch in Japanese Transnational Resource and Action Center (TRAC) P.O. Box 29344 San Francisco, CA 94129 USA Tel: 1-415-561-6472 Fax: 1-415-561-6493 Email: cwj@corpwatch.org URL: http://www.corpwatch-jp.org ------------------------------------- ______________________ The Corporate Watch in Japanese http://www.corpwatch.org/japan (CWJ) mailing list is a moderated email list in English designed to connect activists campaigning against Japanese corporations and investments around the world. * To unsubscribe from the CWJ mailing list, send an email to majordomo@jca.apc.org with text "unsubscribe cwj". To subscribe to the CWJ mailing list, send a message to majordomo@jca.apc.org with the text "subscribe cwj" * The CWJ mailing list is NOT intended for wide distribution. If you would like to post messages from this list somewhere else, we ask that you first contact us at cwj@corpwatch.org ______________________