Photo: Hino Motors Philippines on Facebook
Toyota’s truck and bus maker Hino Motors has confirmed that it found major problems with its way of testing and verifying emissions since 2016. The Japanese subsidiary stopped sales and deliveries and will begin the recalls as soon as possible. Here’s what you need to know.
Hino Motors is Toyota’s global producer of trucks and buses, but also makes the Land Cruiser (also known as Prado), the FJ Cruiser, and Dyna trucks. The company has factories in Japan and Thailand, but also in the U.S., where it manufactures parts only for Toyota. Its engines are also used in some Isuzu models.
According to what company officials said in a press conference, there are almost 115,000 vehicles affected by this issue. For now, it looks like the problems are only at Japan plants. Employees were switching important exhaust systems parts to reach the desired results when it came to establishing emissions. Or, as the company President puts it, it was just “a failure to handle the pressure to reach numerical targets and to strictly adhere to schedules.”
U.S. authorities notified the company in 2018 and told Hino that its trucks aren’t up to standard. After four years have passed, Toyota’s subsidiary has decided to start recalls, stop sales temporarily, and work with authorities to solve all the issues that arise from this situation. This is extremely important, and it might mean financial troubles for the truck and bus maker, as it was asked in 2016 if it has any discoveries regarding falsified emissions data. Hino said "no" at the time. Surprisingly, it coincided with when Mitsubishi was under fire and was trying to solve the exact same issues that Hino’s now facing.
This is one of the latest emissions scandals after Dieselgate prompted checks all over the world and multiple carmakers were found guilty of cheating.
Toyota has already submitted a public opinion on the matter and underlined that Hino must get “to the bottom of the situation as soon as possible by taking preventive measures.”
The Japanese Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport said the falsified emissions data from Hino “erodes the trust of automobile customers and shakes the very foundations of the certification system,” in a press statement quoted by Nikkei.
Hino has a market share of over 30% in Japan, and its clients are doing business all over the world. It will be a hard mission to do the recalls properly and verify if other mistakes have happened. The company should have enough time, though. It took Hino six more years than Mitsubishi and U.S. warnings to achieve the same conclusion as others found guilty of misleading customers and authorities.
According to what company officials said in a press conference, there are almost 115,000 vehicles affected by this issue. For now, it looks like the problems are only at Japan plants. Employees were switching important exhaust systems parts to reach the desired results when it came to establishing emissions. Or, as the company President puts it, it was just “a failure to handle the pressure to reach numerical targets and to strictly adhere to schedules.”
U.S. authorities notified the company in 2018 and told Hino that its trucks aren’t up to standard. After four years have passed, Toyota’s subsidiary has decided to start recalls, stop sales temporarily, and work with authorities to solve all the issues that arise from this situation. This is extremely important, and it might mean financial troubles for the truck and bus maker, as it was asked in 2016 if it has any discoveries regarding falsified emissions data. Hino said "no" at the time. Surprisingly, it coincided with when Mitsubishi was under fire and was trying to solve the exact same issues that Hino’s now facing.
This is one of the latest emissions scandals after Dieselgate prompted checks all over the world and multiple carmakers were found guilty of cheating.
Toyota has already submitted a public opinion on the matter and underlined that Hino must get “to the bottom of the situation as soon as possible by taking preventive measures.”
The Japanese Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport said the falsified emissions data from Hino “erodes the trust of automobile customers and shakes the very foundations of the certification system,” in a press statement quoted by Nikkei.
Hino has a market share of over 30% in Japan, and its clients are doing business all over the world. It will be a hard mission to do the recalls properly and verify if other mistakes have happened. The company should have enough time, though. It took Hino six more years than Mitsubishi and U.S. warnings to achieve the same conclusion as others found guilty of misleading customers and authorities.
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