Nissan admits to falsifying emissions tests in Japan

An internal investigation at Nissan has uncovered falsified data from vehicle exhaust emissions tests at many of its Japanese plants.

The manufacturer claimed that emissions and fuel economy tests had "deviated from the prescribed testing environment" but wouldn’t disclose how many cars had been affected, adding that final reports had been "based on altered measurement values".

Nissan stated that it had re-verified "reliable log data" and confirmed that all vehicles except the GT-R sports car conformed to Japanese standards for emissions and fuel economy.

While it is still unclear as to why the GT-R has yet to get the all-clear from Nissan, the company has promised a "full and comprehensive investigation" into the issue which was discovered during what it describes as “comprehensive compliance checks”.

These reviews stemmed from a previous rule infraction where it was demonstrated that Nissan had, in September 2017, used unauthorised technicians to undertake final inspection checks on domestic market cars, prompting a lengthy recall of cars from the previous three years.

Wheels contacted Nissan’s local importers for clarification on how this could have affected Australian customers. A company spokesperson confirmed that ”we are still working to clarify if there is any impact outside of Japan”.