Toyota Hit With Astronomical Fine for Cheating Diesel Emissions

Yet another major automaker has been fined for cheating on diesel emissions. Hino Motors, a company within Toyota Group, agreed to a settlement totaling $1.6 billion resulting from “false and fraudulent CO2 emissions test data” submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The fine includes a $236.5 million civil penalty to California, another civil penalty of $525 million, a criminal fine of $521.7 million, and other related costs.

According to the settlement, Hino Motors will plead guilty to false data on approximately 105,000 on-road diesel engines, and 6,000 off-road engines. The company will also recall certain engines used in 2017-2019 trucks to bring them into compliance. Toyota acquired a majority stake in Hino Motors in 2001. The company sells engines alongside heavy-duty and medium-duty commercial trucks.

“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,” said Hino Motors CEO Satoshi Ogiso. “We deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers and stakeholders. In order to prevent a recurrence of this kind of issue, we have implemented company-wide reforms, including meaningful improvements to our internal culture, oversight, and compliance practices.”

The criminal fine is the highest in the US since Volkswagen was busted nearly a decade ago for cheating on diesel emissions. Since then, numerous automakers have been caught skirting the regs in some form or another, both in the US and abroad. Stellantis brands, namely Ram and Jeep, have been dinged multiple times for emissions violations. South Korea went after Mercedes and BMW in 2023. Audi has also come under scrutiny.

The Hino Motors settlement, which still needs final approval from a federal judge, comes after Toyota ran afoul of Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) for rigged vehicle certification tests. What started with irregularities at Daihatsu—another brand within Toyota Group—spread to several Toyota models and resulted in temporary production shutdowns.