The offices of Japanese auto giant Mitsubishi Motors were raided Thursday over revelations it falsified fuel economy data.
Japanese agents raided the company’s headquarters in the city of Okazaki just days after the automaker admitted to intentionally altering mileage data to make its vehicles appear more efficient than they actual were. More than 600,000 vehicles are affected by the fraud.
Japan’s government called the attempt to falsify data “extremely serious” and has ordered the company to issue a full report on how and why the company used inaccurate testing methods to falsify its mileage data.
It is not clear how the fraud case will affect vehicles sold in the United States.
The raid came, coincidentally, on the same day German auto giant Volkswagen settled claims in U.S. federal district court over an emissions cheating scandal that started last year.
Since the VW fraud case, environmental regulators have been cracking down on violators of U.S. emission rules for cars.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said Thursday in Washington that in advising other countries on how to implement emission regulations, she said her message has been enforcement is the key.
Environmental laws don’t amount to much if a country is not “implementing them and enforcing them,” she said at an environmental summit at George Washington University. A country has to be “delivering on the goods” to make a difference, she added.
She wasn’t addressing the automakers’ actions directly, but was speaking more broadly about pollution laws in general.
