Recently, Hino Motor issued an announcement that after the company's investigation, it was found that there was a problem of engine data fraud in the factory, and it has been continuous for many years, affecting as many as 115,000 cars.
Hino Motors, a subsidiary of the Toyota Group, manufactures diesel vans, large tractors, buses and diesel engines. According to the details of the investigation released by Hino, the falsification of emission data mainly occurred at Hino's Japanese factory where engine tests were conducted, and the discovery of the problem was mainly due to the company's internal self-examination.
Previously, Volkswagen Group, Mitsubishi Motors, Suzuki and other car companies have admitted to cheating on car emissions problems and fuel economy data fraud.
In 2016, Mitsubishi Motors was caught in a scandal over the falsification of fuel economy data, and Hino said in an investigation by the Japanese Ministry of Transportation that the company had not found any data fraud. In this regard, Hino Motor President Satoshi Ogiso recently said, "For our company, it is a big problem that we have not found misconduct before. ”
According to foreign media reports, Hino Motor has confirmed that since 2016, there are major problems with its emissions testing and verification methods. In 2018, Hino discovered that the engines of vehicles shipped to the North American market did not comply with U.S. regulations, and decided to launch an internal investigation into possible violations at the plant. Since then, Hino has also expanded the scope of its investigation to include engines for the Japanese market. As a result, engine emissions data problems were discovered.
In the fiscal year ending March 2021, Hino sold a total of 59,676 trucks and buses in the Japanese market, accounting for more than 30% of commercial vehicle sales, according to the data.
Hino has stopped shipping medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses with data-falsifying engines and plans to start recalls as soon as possible. According to Hino, nearly 115,000 cars were affected by the problem. Among them, Hino's problem engine was installed on Toyota and Isuzu Motors vehicles, and the incident will affect about 3,000 Toyota buses and 1,200 Isuzu buses.
Regarding Hino's impact, on March 4, Toyota Motor Corporation issued an apology statement on its official website, saying that due to the existence of about 3,000 Costa equipped with Hino engine N04C under investigation, the actual fuel efficiency of the engine is lower than the value stipulated in Japan's 2016 exhaust emission regulations. After Hino Confirms the Correct Emissions Values for the Engine, Toyota will take appropriate measures in consultation with Hino Motors.
On March 7, Hino's stock price fell by 16.76% and Toyota's stock fell by 6.53% due to the recognition of falsification of ultra-large-scale engine emissions data.
Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism believes that "Hino's data manipulation behavior has eroded the trust of automobile consumers and shaken the foundation of the testing and certification system." According to Japanese media reports, on March 7, Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism began an on-site investigation of Hino's engine emissions data submitted to the government because of incorrect engine emissions data submitted by Hino. Later, the Japanese government will decide whether to revoke Hino's engine production certification based on the results of the investigation.
In recent years, it is not uncommon for Japanese car companies and auto parts suppliers to falsify product data. Some analysts believe that due to the further compression of the market share and profits of Japan's domestic manufacturing industry, some companies choose to deceive the market and consumers in extreme ways such as "counterfeiting" in order to maintain their market competitiveness, making the manufacturing industry more and more into a crisis of trust.