Logo of German tyre company Continental is pictured before the annual news conference in Hanover, Germany, March 9, 2021. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
BERLIN, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Continental (CONG.DE) said on Friday it had revamped its compliance team, including making personnel and technical changes, after discovering some parts for car air-conditioning systems had fallen below expected quality standards.
The German manufacturer was responding to a report in Spiegel magazine which alleged the company had supplied dirty parts for air-conditioning systems over 15 years and quality control tests had been manipulated to conceal the issue.
Continental did not directly respond to the alleged manipulation of tests, but said there had been no risk to vehicle occupants from the issue.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
“The deviations in the air-conditioning hoses were identified by Continental employees themselves and then reported to the compliance organisation,” a spokesperson said via email. “We have drawn personnel and technical consequences. Depending on the results of the investigation, others may follow.”
“We immediately informed the responsible authorities and the affected customers,” the person added.
A spokesperson for the state prosecutor’s office in Hanover, where Continental is based, said it was not investigating the matter.
Without detailing its sources, Spiegel said an internal investigation at Continental initiated at the end of 2021 found the test results had been regularly manipulated on a large scale.
At the end of 2021, an internal Continental task force came to the conclusion that 69.1% of the series production of the affected parts at that time did not achieve the desired cleanliness values, the magazine added.
It listed Continental customers that purchase the hoses in question as BMW (BMWG.DE), Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE), Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) and Renault (RENA.PA) as well as Asian manufacturers.
The Continental spokesperson said that at the end of 2021 it reorganised its compliance team, “with a proven expert at the helm.”
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Jan Schwartz
Writing by Paul Carrel
Editing by Mark Potter
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
