Hino Motors reaches $1.6 billion US diesel emissions settlement
15 January 2025
Toyota Motor subsidiary Hino Motors has reached a $1.6 billion settlement with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and several other US agencies over excess emissions in more than 110,000 diesel engines imported and sold in the United States from 2010 to 2022. These engines were primarily installed in heavy-duty trucks manufactured and sold by Hino nationwide.
The EPA said it discovered Hino’s noncompliance as a result of conducting confirmatory testing of Hino’s engines. The EPA discovery follows the developments in the Japanese market, where Hino Motors admitted falsifying engine testing data to obtain emission and fuel economy certifications.
As part of the global resolutions with US authorities, Hino Motors Ltd. has agreed to plead guilty to engaging in a multi-year criminal conspiracy. The plea agreement, which is subject to approval by the court, requires it to pay a criminal fine of $521.76 million, serve a five-year term of probation—during which it will be prohibited from importing any diesel engines it has manufactured into the United States—and implement a comprehensive compliance and ethics program and reporting structure. Hino Motors has also agreed to entry of a forfeiture money judgment against it in the amount of $1.087 billion.
Pursuant to the plea agreement, Hino’s future payments towards its civil settlement obligations, as well future payments as part of a civil class action settlement brought by private plaintiffs, will be credited towards its criminal forfeiture money judgment obligation.
In separate civil resolutions of environmental, customs and fuel economy claims by the federal government and the state of California, Hino will pay a civil penalty of $525 million. The global resolution includes the second largest criminal fine and fourth largest civil penalty in the history of EPA’s mobile source program.
Other provisions of the civil agreement include:
- A mitigation program, valued at $155 million, to offset excess air emissions from the violations by replacing marine and locomotive engines throughout 49 states (excluding California), including the reduction of over 41,000 tons of NOx emissions.
- A recall program, valued at $144.2 million, to modify violative engines in 2017-2019 heavy-duty trucks so they comply with US and California emissions laws.
- $123.6 million to fund mitigation projects and enforcement costs in California.
- $30.3 million to resolve California False Claims Act claims.
On January 10, 2025, the EPA voided engine certificates of conformity for Hino’s 2010-2019 diesel engines for heavy-duty trucks and nonroad equipment. This is the largest voiding action ever taken by the EPA, the agency said, reflecting “the egregiousness of the conduct and the flagrant disregard for the EPA’s certification program.”
As part of its plea agreement, Hino Motors admitted that between 2010 and 2019, it submitted false applications for engine certification approvals. Hino Motors engineers regularly altered emission test data, conducted tests improperly and fabricated data without conducting any underlying tests. Hino Motors further admitted that it submitted fraudulent CO2 emissions test data, which resulted in false fuel consumption values being calculated for its engines. Hino Motors engineers also failed to disclose software functions that could adversely affect engines’ emission control systems. As a result of the fraud, Hino Motors imported and sold over 105,000 non-conforming engines between 2010 and 2022.
The EPA estimates that Hino’s engines emitted levels of NOx, PM, CO2, and N2O above the regulatory limits. Hino’s recall is designed to bring model year 2017-2019 truck engines into compliance with emission standards, while its mitigation projects are intended to fully offset the lifetime excess emissions of the non-compliant engines.
The proposed global civil settlement consent decree is subject to a 30-day comment period and final court approval. More information on the consent decree is available on the US Justice Department’s webpage.
Source: US EPA