KI Holdings
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| TYO: 6747 | |
| Industry | Components |
| Founded | 1915 |
| Headquarters | Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Japan |
| Products | Railway equipment, aircraft passenger seats, lighting equipment, traffic systems, environmental control systems, sanitary equipment |
Number of employees | 2,087 (Consolidated, as of March 2011)[1] |
| Website | koito-ind.co.jp/english/ |
KI Holdings Co., Ltd. (KIホールディングス株式会社, KI Holdings kabushikigaisha), formerly known as Koito Industries, Ltd. (小糸工業株式会社, Koito-kōgyō-kabushikigaisha) until the renaming in 2011, is a manufacturer of mechanical components such as railway equipment, headlamps, and airline seats. It is a subsidiary of Koito Manufacturing. The company has its headquarters in Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.[1]
2009–2010 issues with airline seats
In February 2010, Koito Industries faced a controversy with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan regarding its airline seats. The company was allegedly involved in a seat test falsification, claiming that they omitted part of a test process to test airline seats and used figures from past tests. Koito claimed that they did this because of "heavy number of orders coming and tight scheduling." The problem affected 150,000 seats among over 1,000 Airbus and Boeing planes owned by 32 airlines in 24 countries, causing delays to some aircraft deliveries such as All Nippon Airways' new Inspiration of Japan seats, particularly the premium economy seats.[2][3]
Airbus, since September 2009, before the scandal, had banned Koito from delivering seats manufactured for Airbus aircraft because of safety violations.[4]
As of July 2010, Boeing no longer allows airlines to fit Koito seats in new-build aircraft.[5][6][7]
References
- ^ a b "KI Holdings Profile". Retrieved 14 January 2013.
- ^ "Airliner seat maker Koito hit for fabricating fire-resistance data". Japan Times. 10 February 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ "Japanese plane seat maker admits falsifying safety data". Agence France-Presse. 8 February 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- ^ "Airbus Banned From Using Koito Plane Seats After Safety Alert". Bloomberg L.P./BusinessWeek. 10 February 2010.
- ^ "Boeing stops offering Koito seats to new customers". flightglobal. 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
- ^ "Safety Issues with 150,000 Koito Airline Seats Raise Serious Questions". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 9 July 2010.
- ^ http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/07/07/344121/koitos-airline-customers-urged-to-donate-seats-for.html
- Anonymous (2 March 1998). "Roads agency section chief held over bribes" (Newspaper article). Japan Times. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- Anonymous (20 February 2002). "Koito buys U.S. plane-seat servicer" (Newspaper article). Japan Times. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- Anonymous (1 September 2004). "Firms raided in bid-rigging probe" (Newspaper article). Japan Times. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
- Bloomberg L.P. (7 March 2009). "Toyota suppliers taking hit: Auto parts makers fear bankruptcy unless they can claim public aid" (Newspaper article). Japan Times. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
External links
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