By David Shepardson
(Reuters) – Toyota Motor subsidiary Hino Motors has reached a $1.6 billion settlement with U.S. agencies and will plead guilty to excessive emissions from diesel engines in more than 105,000 U.S. vehicles, the company said on Wednesday and the US government.
The Japanese truck and engine maker was charged with fraud in U.S. District Court in Detroit for illegally selling 105,000 heavy-duty diesel engines in the United States between 2010 and 2022 that did not meet emissions standards.
The settlement, which still must be approved by a U.S. judge, includes a $521.76 million criminal fine, $442.5 million in civil penalties for U.S. authorities and $236.5 million for California.
A company-commissioned panel said in a report released in 2022 that Hino falsified emissions data for some engines dating back to at least 2003.
Hino agreed to plead guilty to participating in a multi-year criminal conspiracy and to serve five years’ probation, during which he will be prohibited from importing diesel engines he manufactured in the United States. United, and to carry out a complete compliance and ethics audit. program, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency said.
Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim said Hino “falsified data for years to circumvent regulations,” adding that the company’s “actions led to large amounts of excessive air pollution and were a blatant violation national laws on the environment, consumer protection and imports.
The settlement includes a mitigation program, valued at $155 million, to offset excess air emissions from the violations by replacing marine and locomotive engines, and a recall program, valued at $144.2 million, to repair heavy truck engines from 2017 to 2019.
The EPA said Hino admitted that between 2010 and 2019, it submitted false applications for engine certification approval and altered emissions test data, conducted tests improperly, and fabricated data without performing underlying tests.
Hino President Satoshi Ogiso said the company has improved its internal culture, monitoring and compliance practices.
“This resolution is an important step toward resolving legacy issues that we have worked hard to ensure are no longer part of Hino’s operations or culture,” he said in a statement. .
The California Air Resources Board opened an investigation in 2019 when Hino’s certification applications were reviewed and found inconsistencies in emissions data.
“Hino knowingly illegally took advantage of California incentives designed to accelerate the adoption of clean transportation technologies that protect the health and safety of Californians from pollution,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Hino said it recorded an extraordinary loss of 230 billion yen, or about $1.54 billion, in its October second-quarter results to cover the expected costs of resolving the dispute.
Over the past decade, several automakers have admitted to selling vehicles with excessive diesel emissions, including Volkswagen (ETR:) which paid more than $20 billion in fines, penalties and settlements after admitting to 2015 cheating on emissions tests by installing “defeat devices”. and sophisticated software in nearly 11 million vehicles worldwide.
