Japanese electronics conglomerate Mitsubishi Electric Corp. may have shipped some 84,600 units of train equipment such as air conditioners without proper product inspection, company officials said Wednesday.
East Japan Railway Co. serving eastern part of the country including Tokyo said earlier in the day most of Mitsubishi-made 9,800 air conditioners currently used on its trains were believed to have been shipped without proper inspection.
West Japan Railway Co. and Central Japan Railway Co. said they together have 9,900 units of Mitsubishi air conditioners in operation, but they do not know how many of them are among products sold without proper checkups.
Mitsubishi Electric on Tuesday admitted to the inspection failure which could have spanned more than 30 years. Mitsubishi Electric sources said safety has not been compromised, but the company has reported the matter to the government.
In a statement released Wednesday, Mitsubishi Electric said it failed to conduct customer-tailored inspections on some of its products for trains, without giving the number of units potentially affected.
The company also said it had shipped some air compressors, used to control trains' brakes and doors, using inspection data from older models. The company officials said about 1,000 air compressor units were shipped without proper inspection.
