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

Archion

16/01/2025 02:07

* 
      Hino to plead guilty to submitting fraudulent engine
emission
data
    

        * 
      Truckmaker will pay $521.76 million criminal fine, serve
five-year probation
    

        * 
      Settlement stems from California probe opened in 2019 
    

  
 (Rewrites paragraph 1 with settlement, adds EPA, Hino and
California attorney general comments throughout)
    By David Shepardson
       Jan 15 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor  7203.T  unit Hino
Motors  7205.T  has agreed a $1.6 billion settlement with U.S.
agencies and will plead guilty over excess diesel engine
emissions in more than 105,000 U.S. vehicles, the company and
U.S. government said on Wednesday.
    The Japanese truck and engine manufacturer was charged with
fraud in U.S. 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 U.S.
judge, includes a criminal penalty of $521.76 million, $442.5
million in civil penalties to U.S. authorities and $236.5
million to California.
        A company-commissioned panel said in a report in 2022
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 U.S., 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."
        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 fix engines in 2017-2019
heavy-duty trucks 
        The EPA said Hino admitted that between 2010 and 2019,
it submitted false applications for engine certification
approvals and altered emission test data, conducted tests
improperly and fabricated data without conducting any underlying
tests.
        Hino President Satoshi Ogiso said the company had
improved its internal culture, oversight and compliance
practices.
        "This resolution is a significant milestone toward
resolving legacy issues that we have worked hard to ensure are
no longer a part of Hino’s operations or culture," he said in a
statement.
    The California Air Resources Board began an investigation in
2019 when Hino’s certification applications were reviewed and
found inconsistencies in the emissions data.
        "Hino knowingly took unlawful advantage of California’s
incentives designed to accelerate the adoption of clean
transportation technologies, which safeguard the health and
safety of Californians from pollution,” said California Attorney
General Rob Bonta.
    Hino said it booked an extraordinary loss of 230 billion
yen, or about $1.54 billion, in its second quarter results in
October to cover the expected costs of resolving the litigation.
    Over the last decade, several automakers admitted to selling
vehicles with excess diesel emissions, including Volkswagen
 VOWG_p.DE  which paid more than $20 billion in fines, penalties
and settlements after it admitted in 2015 it had cheated
emissions tests by installing "defeat devices" and sophisticated
software in nearly 11 million vehicles worldwide.
        
  

 (Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul and
Sonali Paul)
 ((David.Shepardson@thomsonreuters.com; 2028988324;))