Message from the Chief Quality Officer

Reviving “The DENSO of Safety and Quality”:
Addressing the Fuel Pump Recall Issue

We would like to express our sincerest apologies for the distress and inconvenience caused by the series of recalls of our fuel pumps that have been filed by a number of automakers since March 2020.

As an automotive parts supplier, we understand that our products are important functional parts playing a crucial role in automobiles, to which people entrust their lives, and should operate flawlessly, as even a single malfunction in our products can cause a significant burden to our customers. With this understanding, we have pursued business activities that put quality at the center of our management. Since the establishment of the Company, we have adopted the company motto of “The DENSO of Safety and Quality” and have continued to pass down this spirit from generation to generation. Despite that, the largest-ever quality-related issue in our history occurred in 2020, and we deeply regret the concerns and inconvenience that this has caused for a large number of automobile users and automakers.

 

The fuel pumps were recalled because of the possibility that they could become inoperative in a worst-case scenario, due to possible deformation of the impeller* (one of the components of the fuel pump) with a lower resin density.

Reflecting on this experience from a quality control perspective, this was a specific quality issue that was caused by specific factors in the manufacturing process of the recalled fuel pumps, where there were complicated interactions between several factors that had never happened before. This issue could not be foreseen with the available technical knowledge at that time, and it took a considerable amount of time to finally identify the root causes.

Subsequently, we have completed technical analysis to identify the root causes and implemented technical countermeasures. We are now making every effort on a Companywide basis to produce and supply replacement parts, in collaboration with relevant suppliers, to ensure that such parts are delivered to all of our customers at the earliest date possible.

* Impeller: A component of the axial fan designed to send fuel outward

 

To ensure the highest possible quality in the products we deliver worldwide, we take all conceivable precautions and maintain strict daily management in our production process. These include stringent gate management in the development process, quality verification and comprehensive inspections before mass production, and thorough on-site management during the mass production process.

Meanwhile, as a Monozukuri (manufacturing) company, we have continued our operations through technological advancement and contributed to the resolution of social issues while achieving growth in a sustainable manner. Taking on new challenges is indispensable to achieving technological advancement. While pursuing such challenges on an ongoing basis, we strive every day to make improvements so that we can deliver high-quality products that satisfy our customers.

In making these improvements, we mobilized the entire Company to launch the “Reborn21” plan so that we could reflect back on our starting point of “Quality First” to further improve quality. Under this plan, we are making ongoing efforts to enhance awareness, accumulate knowledge, and foster culture, which are all crucial elements of quality assurance.

Regarding awareness, we have been thoroughly entrenching a “customer first” level of awareness. To build unshakable trust-based relationships with customers, we will demonstrate our customer-first approach through the leadership of the management team, including the president, and division heads.

As for knowledge, we have been steadily accumulating fundamental quality-related technologies for our current needs and for the future in an effort to shore up our foundation for quality. Looking ahead, we understand there will be many changes in the operating environment that will impact quality, including rapid software advancements, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), carbon neutrality, and the circular economy.

With culture, we value efforts to foster a corporate culture in which all employees participate and that revolves around the honest exchange of opinions between supervisors and employees so that both parties can understand the real issues at hand and work to tackle them together. Under such a culture, we will strive to promote further collaboration together with labor unions.

Underpinned by this awareness, knowledge, and culture, we have established a Safety and Quality Headquarters, independent from and placed directly under the Company, through which we are striving to enhance quality governance. With the urgent need to strengthen safety and quality countermeasures, we placed a senior director in charge of fundamental quality-related technologies in 2020, who promotes activities aimed at building such technologies on a cross-organizational basis. Additionally, I, as an executive vice president, was given the title of chief quality officer (CQO) in 2022, being placed in charge of promoting quality-related activities from a Companywide perspective.

 

Reflecting deeply on the first words appearing in the DENSO Creed, “Be trustworthy and responsible,” we will seek to deliver safety and peace of mind to our customers. At the same time, we will make Companywide efforts aimed at meeting global expectations by anticipating future changes and applying proper work practices with a firm awareness of quality as the foundation underpinning our corporate activities and with a sense of integrity as a Monozukuri company. We ask for your continued support as we pursue these endeavors moving forward.

Yasuhiko Yamazaki
Executive Vice President
Chief Quality Officer