Toyota Industries finds fault in diesel engine data
Toyota explains that different control units were installed in series production than those used for certification. The company has since stopped deliveries of ten models: the Hilux truck and Land Cruiser 300 SUV, the Hiace van, Fortuner SUV, Innova and the Lexus LX500D SUV, among others.
While seemingly not too dramatic, the scale is large. Toyota Industries said it sold about 84,000 affected automobile diesel engines during the financial year ending 31 March 2023. The shipment halt also impacted production at six lines at four plants in Japan.
Koji Sato, CEO of Toyota, told reporters that the company used 36,000 affected engine models worldwide each month, which equals 432,000 units annually. A Toyota spokesperson could not immediately say how many affected vehicles the automaker had sold over the years.
To drivers, Toyota had the following message: “We have re-verified the mass-produced products manufactured at the plant and confirmed that the affected engines and vehicles meet engine performance output standards. Therefore, there is no need to stop using the affected engines or vehicles. However, we deeply apologize to our customers who have been supporting affected vehicles and waiting for a long time, and also to all other stakeholders for the significant inconvenience and concern that this has caused.”
Reuters reports that the company now seeks to resolve the matter quickly with authorities and would take measures such as running new engine certification tests in the presence of regulators as needed.
Toyota first discovered the fault when receiving notification that Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) had reported inappropriate domestic emissions certification of engines for forklifts and construction machinery. The investigation then found that irregularities also occurred during the horsepower output testing for the certification of three diesel engine models destined for automobiles that Toyota had commissioned to TICO.
“There was a lack of communication with Toyota Motor and not enough coordination about testing processes and procedures that should have been followed,” Toyota Industries President Koichi Ito said at a press conference.
The diesel incident is separate from another delivery stop when Toyota had to halt sales of all vehicle models of its small car subsidiary Daihatsu due to irregularities. These concerned manipulated safety tests related to rigged collision tests.
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