Here is what Dato’ Sri Zainal Abidin Ahmad has to say regarding Daihatsu

Okay, so by now, surely we all will have heard about the controversy regarding partner company to Perodua, our second local car brand, Daihatsu and how it was less than honest regarding the safety of its vehicles, specifically, the safety ratings that some off their newer vehicles have “achieved.”

Pursuant to Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd.’s (DMC) announcement today on the suspension of its models due to its “procedural irregularities.” So essentially, we now know that Daihatsu is forced to suspend the building of its models, which are also some of the models used in Perodua and Toyota lineups.

Moreover, Perodua’s statement is issued as a response to the third-party committee’s report on the “procedural irregularities” done by DMC when conducting safety tests on vehicles for various OEMs issued earlier today. This statement was made by Perodua CEO, Dato’ Sri Zainal Abidin Ahmad.

The third-party committee report, confirmed by DMC said, “these verifications and tests confirmed that all 174 irregularities pointed out by the third-party committee satisfied the standards set by laws and regulations.”

On Perodua’s end, the brand had stated that it is doing a detailed assessment on the matter and are currently in discussion with Malaysian authorities as to the impact of this development to our vehicles. Let’s hope that both Perodua and Toyota did their due diligence when incorporating these Daihatsu vehicles in their lineups.

On top of that, for background, on 28 April 2023, DMC announced “procedural irregularities” when conducting safety tests on vehicles in Japan. Following that announcement, DMC has established a third-party investigative committee consisting of lawyers and technical personnel.

Well, we all know how that turned out now, and lets just say the results are very unfavourable for both Perodua and Toyota as even if both brands did go the extra mile to ensure the safety of their vehicles, the platform it shares with Daihatsu, means that buyers will be skeptical regardless and this will likely affect sale as well.

Perodua also went on to add to its statement saying, “We sincerely apologise to our valued customers and the general public for any alarm this announcement may bring. Our intent is to reach out and assure our valued customers. We will share the outcome of this discussion with the public in due course.”

What do you guys think? Are Perodua cars safe, are Toyota cars even safe? How will this affect Perodua in the long run and how will Japan hold Daihatsu responsible for this?