TOKYO, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries has falsified fuel-efficiency data on its ship engines for more than 20 years, local media reported on Thursday.
Kawasaki Heavy announced that it altered data on 673 of 674 engines which were mounted on vessels including large cargo ships, container ships and tankers in and after 2000, when regulations on harmful nitrogen oxides were enforced, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The manufacturer changed data by manipulating testing equipment to keep values within the permissible range decided with customers, saying this could have an impact on nitrogen oxide emissions, the report said.
The Japanese government started to investigate marine engine makers across the country last month after emissions testbed data falsifications have recently been reported by subsidiaries of IHI Corp and Hitachi Zosen. Kawasaki Heavy said it discovered the misconduct after an internal probe.
The company will set up a special investigative committee of outside experts to determine the cause of the wrongdoing and consider measures to prevent a recurrence, the report said. ■
