| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Traded as | 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 |
| Employees | 1,881 |
| Website | koito-ind.co.jp/english/company/main.html |
Koito Industries, Ltd. (小糸工業株式会社 Koito-kōgyō-kabushikigaisha) 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]
In February 2010, Koito Industries faced a controversy with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan regarding on 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]