Mitsubishi Motors has been struggling to return to profit following years of slumping sales caused by a series of defect cover-up scandals that required a massive bailout of the heavily-indebted company in 2004. In April Mitsubishi Motors was ordered by a Yokohama District Court to pay 5.5 million yen (US$47,000) in damages to relatives of victims of the January 2002 fatal accident. In a separate incident in October 2002 a 39-year-old driver was killed at Yamaguchi in western Japan after losing control of his truck, allegedly due to a faulty clutch mechanism. In 2000, Mitsubishi Motors admitted to keeping the transport ministry in the dark about at least 64,000 complaints filed by car owners dating back to 1977. Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006