Hino admits to diesel emissions cheating: Toyota-owned brand pulls models from sale in Japan as investigation highlights testing irregularities

Commercial vehicle giant Hino has admitted to falsifying the results of emissions tests for a number of its engines in three Japanese-market models.

Hino, which is owned by Toyota Motor Corporation, made the admission last Friday, and the brand’s Tokyo headquarters was raided by Japan’s transport ministry on Monday, according to reporting from the Japan Times.

In a statement, the truck-maker said: “Hino has identified misconduct related to the certification procedures for multiple engine models subject to the 2016 emissions regulations … and fuel economy standards in Japan and found problems in engine performance.”

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The brand went on to say that it “deeply apologises for any inconvenience caused to its customers and other stakeholders”.

According to Hino, it identified misconduct concerning the falsification of engine performance data in its emissions durability testing for the engines after expanding an investigation into its North American operations.

In its statement, the company acknowledged the reasons for the falsification of data and took responsibility for its actions.

“Based on the findings to date, Hino believes that it failed to appropriately respond to internal pressures to achieve certain targets and meet schedules that were placed on Hino employees. Hino management takes these findings extremely seriously.”

Hino has suspended the Japanese sale of the models that are fitted with the engines in question. They include the Ranger medium duty truck, Profia heavy duty truck and S-elega heavy duty bus. There are more than 115,000 examples of the affected models on Japanese roads.

Hino has already put in place measure to ensure this does not occur again, including improving its governance system, an organisational restructure, a review of its internal processes and ensuring the compliance awareness of all employees.

None of the models caught up in the scandal are sold in Australia.

Hino’s shares dropped 17 per cent according to Japan Times, which is the maximum daily limit allowed under Tokyo exchange rules.

Hino is not the first automotive manufacturer caught up in an emissions cheating scandal. Volkswagen Group famously admitted to altering the diesel emissions tests on a number of models across various group brands back in 2015.

Mazda, Suzuki, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz have all come under scrutiny in recent years for improper emissions tests.