Toyota’s Truck Division Pays Big for Emissions Cheating

You know, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can't check every car out there. They trust manufacturers to give them honest emissions data. But Hino Motors, a part of Toyota, didn’t play fair. They were hiding stuff that the EPA found out about when they did their own checks. In a statement, Hino said they told the U. S. authorities about these issues back in 2019. They even cooperated really well with the U. S. Department of Justice investigation. This settlement will fix all their legal problems in the U. S. related to their past emissions issues. Diesel engines can make a lot of nitrogen oxides. That stuff can cause serious health problems and harm the climate. Car companies use technology to control this, but it makes vehicles pricier and can affect how they run. Some companies have been caught faking these tests before. Hino's cheating involved 110, 000 engines in trucks sold in the U. S. from 2010 to 2022. The settlement needs a federal judge's approval. Hino won't be able to import diesel engines to the U. S. for five years. They also have to recall engines from trucks in 2017 to 2019 and fix them to meet emissions rules. Hino agreed to beef up their internal checks to stop this from happening again. Plus, they’ll fund programs to make up for the extra pollution. For example, they’ll replace old diesel engines in 35 ships and train locomotives with cleaner ones.