The Transport Ministry plans to issue orders to Mitsubishi Motors Corp. next month demanding that the firm make its operational procedures concerning vehicle recalls more transparent after it was revealed that defects had been concealed for decades, ministry officials said Wednesday.

According to the ministry, an automaker is required by law to inform the Transport Ministry of vehicle defects that pose serious safety or environmental dangers. The firm must then repair the faults free of charge.

It was revealed Tuesday, however, that MMC had for nearly 30 years hidden customer complaints and defects from authorities that would usually require notification.

The company instead secretly fixed the defects, reportedly in the belief that this would more promptly address customers' complaints.

Ministry officials maintained that MMC employees had insufficient knowledge of the recall system and said that they plan to issue a written order for the automaker to revamp its operations.

The ministry has already indicated that it will penalize the firm for violating the Road Trucking Vehicle Law by falsifying reports.

The unreported repair of cars by MMC began as far back as 1969 and only stopped after it was discovered in October 1997 that Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. had hidden the existence of defective cars.

But MMC continued to repair defects in its trucks and buses, while orders to stop the practice for cars were not fully followed either.

U.S. unit joins recall

NEW YORK (Kyodo) The U.S. sales unit of Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will recall 10,334 vehicles in line with a worldwide recall of vehicles the Japanese automaker made earlier in the day in Tokyo.

Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America Inc., based in Cypress, Calif., said it will collect and repair for free 10,334 vehicles exported to the U.S. in 1995 and 1996.

MMSA officials said the company is currently discussing with U.S. authorities whether it should recall an additional 34,000 Mirage vehicles exported to the U.S. in the 1995-1997 period.

So far, there have been less than 10 complaints from consumers about the Mirage, the MMSA officials said.

Earlier Tuesday in Tokyo, Mitsubishi Motors announced a recall of 200,000 cars overseas and 88,000 vehicles in Japan. The company had already recalled 532,000 vehicles in the domestic market in July.

"The recall procedures we implement in the United States are entirely different than those conducted in Japan," Pierre Gagnon, executive vice president and chief operating officer of MMSA, said in a statement.

"We maintain a close relationship with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and are diligent in tracking all customer complaints and product safety and quality concerns in our efforts to issue product recalls whenever those are required," he said.