Hino halts Dutro truck shipments as more testing fraud revealed

Hino Motors Ltd. has suspended domestic shipments of Hino Dutro light commercial trucks due to its falsified engine-test data and misconduct revelations in an ongoing scandal.

The data-tampering scandal involves the falsification of gas emissions and fuel economy data for a wide range of vehicles over a long period of time, including the majority of its Japanese vehicles.

Hino Motors President Satoshi Ogiso described the issue as a serious and grave matter for which there is no justification.

Despite the fact that two tests are required, Hino Motors stated that it submitted exhaust emissions performance data for the vehicle engines based on only one test.

As of the end of July, this engine had been installed in 76,694 vehicles.

The wrongdoing was discovered by the transport ministry after Hino Motors' own third-party panel failed to do so.

In Japan, approximately 27,000 Dutros were sold in fiscal 2021.

Hino Motors' testing malpractice is believed to have started around 2003 across a wide range of models.

The company announced on August 2 that test data for 12 different engines used in large and mid-sized vehicles had been falsified.

Hino will continue to sell vehicles powered by Toyota engines.