NEW YORK/TOKYO: US consumers have filed a lawsuit against Kobe Steel Ltd and Toyota Motor Corp accusing the companies of violating consumer protection laws and engaging in fraud by concealing the use of substandard metal components in vehicles. The proposed class-action lawsuit represents the first US consumer complaint filed against Kobe Steel over data fraud, and highlights the legal risks the company faces even after CEO Hiroya Kawasaki announced on Tuesday he would quit to draw a line under the scandal.
The 112-year-old company, which supplies steel and aluminium parts to manufacturers of cars, planes and trains around the world, admitted last year to supplying products with falsified specifications to around 500 customers, throwing global supply chains into turmoil.
Kobe, Japan’s third-largest steelmaker, said on Tuesday that the data fraud had gone on for nearly five decades, and that it found new cases of impropriety, widening the number of affected clients to 605, including 222 overseas. The company said Kawasaki would quit on April 1.
The US lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in San Francisco, was brought by two California residents who seek to represent a nationwide class of consumers who bought allegedly defective Toyota vehicles.
According to the complaint, Toyota’s Prius, Camry, Land Cruiser and Lexus vehicles have all been manufactured with “sub-standard” steel, aluminium and copper.
The plaintiffs allege that Toyota and Kobe Steel both violated federal and state consumer protection laws by claiming that the vehicles complied with US quality standards.
“We have not grasped the whole content of the case and we are now looking into the matter,” a Kobe Steel spokesman said on Wednesday.
In a special order in November, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked 29 automakers, including Toyota, to disclose any safety issues for any of their vehicles or engines containing products supplied by Kobe Steel. — Reuters
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