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Japan gov't orders rubber firm to check 2nd shoddy anti-quake devise used in buildings

Xinhua, March 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Japanese government on Wednesday ordered officials at a company that admitted making faulty rubber products used as shock absorbers in buildings to resist earthquakes to ensure more of its products are not substandard.

Officials from the Osaka-based Toyo Tire and Rubber Company on March 13 told the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport that its rubber-laminated bearings used in building's shock absorbers do not conform to the regulator's criteria. The officials said that it had installed inadequate earthquake- tempering devises in 55 buildings across Japan between 2003 and 2011.

Following this revelation, the ministry decertified the company ' s product and demanded a full investigation, with a subsequent report revealing that performance test data for the product in question had been intentionally falsified.

The rubber product maker also said Tuesday that the person in charge of the rubber products for another devise had also falsified data.

In a news conference Wednesday, Managing Director Kazuyuki Ito apologized for the latest scandal involving Toyo Tire, saying his company was working closely with the ministry to remedy the problem, whilst admitting the company's culpability in failing to check whether data for other devises had been falsified, following the original revelation.

Toyo Tire representatives said they had confirmed with the ministry Wednesday that following their inspections, none of the 55 buildings currently using the uncertified, substandard shock absorbers are in danger of collapsing if an earthquake registering around the upper 5 mark on the Japanese seismic scale strikes.

The company also supplies its rubber materials to apartments, hospitals, warehouses and government buildings around Japan and has said that it will work closely with the ministry in offering exchanges of the product and has hired a law firm to help it with its proceedings.

The ministry said Wednesday it will check the authenticity and accuracy of the embattled company's latest data. Endi