If you’re forced to take certain actions with your vehicle due to a Class Action Settlement, or a settlement with the government, because of emissions cheating by the manufacturer — your legal rights and financial security are at stake. Take a step toward preserving your options by contacting us today!

People expect to get what they pay for. This is especially true when businesses, at great expense, purchase vehicles to manage the heavy tasks that they routinely handle every day. Hino Engines, whose products are used in a variety of heavy-duty trucks and buses owned by businesses globally, has made recent headlines with their admission to emissions cheating that may have massive implications for the companies and individuals purchasing and relying upon their vehicles worldwide.

Any time that there is an emissions scandal, the world’s newspapers and regulation bodies take notice. Hino Engines is an affiliate and supplier of Toyota Motor Company that is now under fire after it has become apparent the company has been involved in falsifying emissions data for nearly two decades involving a variety of its vehicles. This falsified data concealed the true emissions of the engines and emissions systems in these vehicles, creating an unfair advantage for the company, and its affiliate Toyota, within a highly competitive space. It also, though, creates an unclear future for owners of these vehicles as governmental regulators and legal experts begin to unwrap the implications of nearly 20 years of emissions cheating.

The manufacturer of trucks and buses, Hino Motors Limited has already been internally investigating the matter and their findings are indeed troubling. Beyond their recent admission of falsifying emissions reports, the investigation revealed an intense culture of competition creating  the need to cheat emissions in order to maintain production and sales. This troubling history dates back, per the report, to 2003. And as the owner of 50.1% of Hino Motors, Toyota has taken responsibility for the emissions cheating. The concern over emissions cheating by Hino Motors is not merely a business or financial world matter – and our focus here is not necessarily just the environmental or personal health impacts, as serious and significant as they may be, the emissions cheating has caused. Instead, our focus is on what comes next now that the leadership of Hino Motors and Toyota acknowledge a major problem exists with these products that owners have purchased by relying on the manufacturer to sell them a product that performed as advertised, consistent with governmental regulation.  Owners have apparently been misled and now must accept the consequences of overpaying for the vehicle and facing repairs and other attempts to address the issues that may impact future performance and loss in value, as has been reported in other similar emissions scandal cases.    

How these two companies will manage the fallout from Hino Motors’ cheating appears to be the last business matter these manufacturers will pursue together. In late August, it was announced that Toyota was moving on from Hino, deciding to expel the motor company for the affiliate’s role and misconduct surrounding emissions cheating in the certification testing process. That action will remove Hino from future business, “including the joint planning agreement,” while their current project work will be minimized to avoid “inconvenience.” Even as the companies part ways and Toyota seeks to move on from this scandal, the lingering effects will drastically impact current owners in a manner that will require careful attention from those relying upon these vehicles and the (falsely) represented performance and regulatory compliance they seemingly relied upon.

While owners of these vehicles may not have significant concern about emissions, or the level of various compounds released into the air during the use of their vehicles, they do (or should) have significant interest in the continued performance of their vehicles. When an emissions scandal unfolds, how the vehicle performs and what must be done to “fix” the cheating mechanism and its impact on performance in the wake of various discoveries are two critical elements in the process. The scrutiny on Hino and Toyota for this emissions matter goes well-beyond the United States, creating even more pressure in the matter legally – as well as major incentives for the companies to seek a quick resolution with to resolve the matter. In late August, Hino acknowledged that Japan’s Transport Ministry revealed the company “failed to meet emissions testing requirements for one of its light-duty engine models,” demonstrating the matter now extends deeply into the product lineup and is not just an issue for larger vehicles. If government officials in the United States intervene to require a long-term “fix” to the cheating involving the emissions system, there may be major changes made to the vehicle and the operation of its exhaust and emissions systems.

The impact of emissions cheating repairs or “fixes” have previously involved a software update  as a critical part of previous emissions scandals. The most infamous example, Volkswagen, involved emissions cheating where, similar to this Hino Motors emissions cheating matter, the manufacturer admitted responsibility and that they had, in fact, been modifying numbers to meet standards. Notable in that matter, though, was that the manufacturer was unable to create software that would bring the vehicles into regulatory compliance without significantly impacting the on the road performance of these vehicles. In other cases, including EcoDiesel, the manufacturer was required  to release a series of software updates to attempt to bring the vehicles into compliance. Put simply, any time a vehicle must be modified because it failed to satisfy regulatory requirements,  the potential for vehicle performance issues is high as, simply stated, the vehicle was not built and sold to spec and new software modifying the emissions system  will not always function as it should  with the existing, already built and manufactured vehicle.

The core issue of emissions cheating, as a result, is quite simple. Vehicle manufacturers are often compelled by settlements with the government to engineer new software or hardware solutions to undo their emissions cheating mechanisms. The end result of these efforts, as well as how the modifications or “fix”  will impact vehicle performance, are often initially unknown due to the significant work and testing needed to override the cheating device. The impact of future software updates is reason enough for business owners and members of the general public who own these vehicles to be very vigilant in preserving their legal options to avoid a catastrophic loss. However, the potential impact on performance and resale value as an emissions scandal wears on is reason enough for being very careful in this Hino Engines/Toyota Motor Company emissions matter.

While no law firm can guarantee results or claim to clients they will do better outside of a class action settlement, those affected by an emissions scandal of this type deserve the right to choose between that class action and an individual claim where owners can pursue all the compensation they deserve.  Stern Law is not class action counsel and is not seeking to file a class action case; our clients in this matter will be those who wish to avoid the class action settlement for their own individual claim. If you own a vehicle in the Hino Engines/Toyota lineup, please contact us today to find out more about your legal options. Together with our co-counsel, we have extensive experience in litigating these emissions scandal cases, beginning with Volkswagen and then EcoDiesel, Ford, General Motions and more.