Toyota unit Hino Motors reaches $1.6 billion US diesel emissions settlement

Toyota Motor unit Hino Motors has agreed to a $1.6 billion settlement with US agencies and will plead guilty over excess diesel engine emissions in more than 105,000 US vehicles, the company and US government said on Wednesday.

Toyota Motor unit Hino Motors has agreed to a $1.6 billion settlement with US agencies and will plead guilty over excess diesel engine emissions in more than 105,000 US vehicles, the company and US government said on Wednesday. The Japanese truck and engine manufacturer was charged with fraud in US District Court in Detroit for unlawfully selling 105,000 heavy-duty diesel engines in the United States from 2010 through 2022 that did not meet emissions standards. The settlement, which still must be approved by a US judge, includes a criminal penalty of $521.76 million, $442.5 million in civil penalties to US authorities and $236.5 million to California. A company-commissioned panel said in a report in 2022 that Hino had falsified emissions data on some engines going back to at least 2003. Hino agreed to plead guilty to engaging in a multi-year criminal conspiracy and serve a five-year term of probation, during which it will be barred from importing any diesel engines it has manufactured into the US, and carry out a comprehensive compliance and ethics program, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency said. Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim said Hino “falsified data for years to skirt regulations,” adding the company’s “actions led to vast amounts of excess air pollution and were an egregious violation of our nation’s environmental, consumer protection and import laws.”