Toyota is one of the world's top car companies. Toyota not only has cars, MPVs, SUVs, pickup trucks, but also heavy trucks, light trucks and other products, and also sells in the Chinese market. While you may not be familiar with the name Hino, it is certainly not unfamiliar, as it is a manufacturer of diesel trucks, buses and other vehicles in Japan, and is also a member of the Toyota Group, which currently cooperates with GAC to produce the Hino 700 series of trucks in China.
According to foreign media autoevolution, Hino Motor has confirmed that since 2016, there are major problems with its emissions testing and verification methods. Hino Motors has now stopped selling and delivering and will begin recalls as soon as possible. According to company officials at a news conference, nearly 115,000 cars were affected by the problem. At present, the problem seems to be only in Japanese factories.
U.S. authorities notified the company in 2018 and told Hino that its trucks did not meet the standards. Four years on, Toyota's subsidiary decided to start a recall, temporarily halt sales, and work with authorities to resolve all the problems that arose. This is extremely important, and it could mean the truck and bus maker's financial problems, as in 2016 the company was asked if it had found any findings about falsified emissions data. Hino said "no" at the time. Surprisingly, Mitsubishi was under attack at the time and trying to solve the same problem that Hino is now facing.
It's one of the latest emissions scandals that followed inspections of dieselgate incidents around the globe and multiple automakers convicted of cheating.
Toyota has submitted public comments on the matter, stressing that Hino must "take precautions to find out the situation as soon as possible." Japan's Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport said in a press statement cited by Nikkei that Hino's falsified emissions data "weakens the trust of automotive customers and shakes the foundation of the certification system."
Hino has a market share of more than 30% in Japan and its customers operate all over the world. Making the recall correctly and verifying that other errors have occurred will be a daunting task. However, the company should have enough time. It took Hino six years longer than Mitsubishi and U.S. Warning to come to the same conclusions as other companies found to mislead consumers and authorities.