Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturer Hino Motors has been fined and forfeited over $1.6 billion for involvement in a years-long emissions fraud scheme in the United States.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan found Hino guilty of conspiring to deceive the U.S. government and consumers and illegally importing products that failed to meet U.S. regulations. The court ordered Hino to pay a fine of $521.76 million and forfeit $1.087 billion.
Hino will face a five-year probationary period, during which the company will be banned from importing diesel engines into the United States. The company must also establish and implement new compliance and ethics programs through a structured reporting system.
According to court documents, Hino submitted falsified information in engine certification applications under the Federal Clean Air Act from 2010 to 2019. Hino engineers were found to have conducted emissions tests improperly, manipulated test data, and fabricated results without performing actual tests.
The company also misrepresented carbon dioxide emissions figures, leading to inaccurate fuel consumption calculations. This has been flagged as a serious issue that undermines the credibility of fuel economy information provided to consumers.
Moreover, Hino failed to disclose certain software functions that could affect the emissions control system to authorities. Between 2010 and 2022, the company imported and sold over 105,000 non-compliant engines, which were primarily installed in large trucks operating across the U.S.
In a related development, in 2024, Hino announced plans to shut down its Chinese subsidiary, Shanghai Hino Engine Company, citing a challenging market environment.
