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Tokyo-based KYB and its subsidiaries: guilty of selling substandard seismic dampers

Japanese firms that falsified data for seismic shock absorbers have identified 70 of the affected structures. The buildings identified so far are all local or central government offices.

Tokyo-based KYB and its subsidiary, Kayaba System Machinery, manufactured and sold seismic dampers whose test-data were altered.

They say the practice continued since 2000, and that nearly 1,000 structures were fitted with potentially substandard dampers.

KYB executive Keisuke Saito and the subsidiary’s president, Shigeki Hirokado, met reporters on Friday.

Saito said that among those affected, they decided to disclose government buildings first, as they are used by many people.

The officials said that out of the 70 buildings named, 28 are fitted with dampers that had data falsified.

Out of those 28, 11 of the buildings are fitted with dampers that do not meet the government standard, and 17 do not meet contractual specifications promised to clients.

The officials say the remaining 42 structures include those whose dampers may have had their data altered, according to shipment records. They say the status of the rest remains inconclusive, due to the lack of inspection records.

Source: NHK-Japan

Tokyo-based KYB and its subsidiaries: guilty of selling substandard seismic dampers
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