TOKYO (Reuters) - A Mitsubishi Materials Corp (T:5711) unit falsified product data for years, the Nikkei financial daily reported, the latest in a series of quality assurance scandals involving Japanese manufacturers.
Mitsubishi Cable Industries had falsified data on its O-rings, used by hundreds of customers for industrial products such as aircraft, the report said. No safety problems have been found so far, it said, citing multiple sources.
Mitsubishi Cable's website said O-rings, used as a sealing product, are supplied "to the critical area of aircraft and aerospace and nuclear use, based on high quality and reliability".
A Mitsubishi Materials spokesman said he was preparing a statement but would not confirm details. He said the company had launched an investigation following a recent data-falsification scandal at Kobe Steel (T:5406), Japan's No.3 steelmaker.
Mitsubishi Materials has a 45 percent share in a copper tube joint venture with Kobe Steel, including the Hatano plant, the center of Kobe's data-falsification scandal.
Kobe has admitted that workers tampered with product specifications, shaking up global supply chains and forcing global automakers, aircraft manufacturers and other companies to check whether the safety or performance of their products had been compromised.
Confidence in Japan's manufacturing prowess has also taken a hit from recent revelations that automakers Nissan (T:7201) and Subaru (T:7270) had failed to comply with final inspection procedures for decades.