Toyota admits aiding exam cheats

Mr Cho (right) says consumers' faith has been shaken

Japan's biggest car maker, Toyota, has apologised after admitting it helped staff cheat in a state mechanics' exam.

The transport ministry asked a Toyota official to help draft some of the questions in the exam, the country's highest auto engineering certificate.

The official then checked the questions with the firm's service, where staff leaked them onto an internal website.

"This incident... betrays consumers' trust in Toyota," said Toyota president Fujio Cho.

Tainted record

Almost half the 7,300 aspiring mechanics who took the tests were from Toyota.

It is not yet certain how many of those had prior warning of the questions, but staff from 240 of the 308 participating Toyota dealers accessed the website before the exams.

Toyota has now promised that all its staff will have to retake the test, and the transport ministry said it was still considering what action to take.

The annual state mechanics' exam is one of the toughest tests in the Japanese car business.

Last year, of the 9,000 candidates who took part, only 330 passed.