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Mitsubishi recalls hit U.S.
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August 22, 2000: 8:19 p.m. ET
Automaker expands recall in Japan and initiates U.S. recall of 10K vehicles
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said on Tuesday the company's expanded recall in Japan would include 10,000 cars in the United States.
The recall in the U.S. relates to a welding problem in the upper section of the fuel tank of Galants, according to Mitsubishi spokesman Kim Custer.
Customers should check the vehicle identification number or the VIN.� If it starts with a J, the car will be recalled. If it starts with the number 4, it won't.���
The Galant was primarily built at a plant in Bloomington, Ill. and sold in the U.S., but Custer said the sporty coupe was so popular the company needed to import 10,000 Galants from its Japanese plants.
Mitsubishi is also recalling 334 Montero SUV's built between 1992 and 1994 that were missed during an earlier recall to fix brake line hoses which may have been too short.
The company is also working with the federal government to decide if it will recall 34,000 Mirages built between 1995 and 1997 because of a loose crankshaft bolt.
This all comes just as the struggling automaker acknowledged to the U.S. government that for several years, employees failed to report an array of consumer complaints regarding Mitsubishi vehicles.� The defects, which included fuel leaks, failing brakes and loose fuel tanks were repaired on a case-by-case basis to avoid expensive recalls.
Mitsubishi expands recall in Japan
The Japanese automaker also reported the additional recalls to Japan's Transport Ministry on Tuesday, adding it would check 9,000 other vehicles that may need repairs, the ministry said in a statement.
The Japanese ministry is now considering what punitive steps it may take against Mitsubishi Motors, a ministry official told a news briefing. He did not rule out the possibility of the ministry filing a complaint with prosecutors regarding suspected violations of surface transportation laws.
 Mitsubishi Motors said on July 18 it would offer to recall or check 692,000 cars and trucks in Japan at a cost of five billion yen ($46 million), after acknowledging it hid customer complaints from the Transport Ministry for eight years.
Mitsubishi Motor President Katsuhiko Kawasoe is due to hold a news conference later on Tuesday, after submitting the result of an internal probe into the cover-up scandal to the ministry.
Japanese media have reported the internal investigation found the company systematically hid complaints from the ministry for up to 30 years, much longer than it previously acknowledged, in order to avoid costly recalls.
Mitsubishi is no stranger to scandal, with the late 1990s marred by payoffs to corporate racketeers and an embarrassing sexual harassment suit at its Normal, Illinois plant that was settled for $34 million.
Kawasoe, appointed chief executive in late 1997 to clean up the company's image, is likely to announce a salary cut for himself and other executives to take responsibility for the latest cover-up scandal, media reports said.
Mitsubishi Motors shares have slipped in the wake of the scandal, although on Tuesday they were down only a modest 0.46 percent at 436 yen at the midday break. They had tumbled as low as 388 after the scandal broke last month, down more than 20 percent from their mid-July high of 497.
Cushioning the fall was news late last month that Mitsubishi sealed a high-profile strategic tie-up with German-U.S. auto giant DaimlerChrysler (DCX: Research, Estimates), which agreed to take a minority controlling stake of 34 percent in Mitsubishi.
The scandal has raised doubts, however, about the struggling automaker's reform program, including a drive to cut costs and debt levels.
In May, Mitsubishi forecast its group net loss would triple in the business year to next March to 70 billion yen, although this was due mainly to covering retirement benefit liabilities. 
- from staff and wire reports
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Mitsubishi Motors
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