Bannister Law Class Action is investigating potential breaches of Hino Motor Sales Australia Pty Limited and Hino Motors (Japan) under the Road Vehicle Standards Act 2018 & the Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989.
Bannister Law Class Action successfully conducted the case against Volkswagen and Audi and is currently conducting a class action against Mitsubishi class action alleges that the consumption labels affixed to each Affected Vehicle and brochures published by Mitsubishi made several false and misleading representations about the fuel efficiency of the Affected Vehicles.
The Investigation Report states;
“Hino cannot escape the determination that it made a false report”
Bannister Law Class Actions is seeking the registration of all those that owned or leased for the period 2004-2021 of all model’s year 2004-2021 trucks to investigate the Australian application of the report findings that may infringe on emissions regulations and fuel representations to consumers and business operators of the vehicles.
If you owned or leased a Hino Vehicle model years 2004-2021 you should Register below:
The Japanese company announced Misconduct concerning Engine Certification” on March 4, 2022,
“Hino identified past misconduct concerning falsification of engine performance in its applications for certification concerning the emissions and fuel economy performance of three of its engines for the Japanese market (medium duty engine model A05C (HC-SCR) and heavy-duty engine models, A09C and E13C), and also identified that those engines had problems in engine performance.
In addition, regarding light duty engine model N04C (Urea-SCR), although no misconduct has been identified to date, it was discovered that the actual fuel efficiency performance was less than the specification values (hereinafter referred to as the “Issue”).
In view of the seriousness of the Issue, Hino established a Special Investigation Committee composed of outside experts, who have no vested interest in relation to Hino, to develop a clearer picture of the entire case and analyze the root cause”.
On 2 August 2022, the investigation report was released and
The Special Investigation Committee’s investigation revealed long-term misconduct concerning applications for engine certification. Hino considers that the background to this incident is its management’s failure to sufficiently engage with the frontline workforce, creating an environment and mechanism prioritizing meeting schedules and numerical goals over due processes. The Company’s inward-looking and conservative culture also prevented each employee from carrying out his or her work with a sense of involvement and solidarity. Hino also lacked awareness in and a mechanism for managing its business operations as a corporate organization, for which Hino believes its management bears responsibility.
Vehicle diesel engines (on-road engines) For a wide range of models, after the introduction of the 2003 emissions regulations (new short-term regulations/E6), when Hino adopted emissions after-treatment systems to comply with stricter regulation values, and accordingly, introduced tests to confirm emissions durability performance (durability tests), misconduct was discovered, mainly in relation to the durability tests
Since the introduction of the 2005 emissions regulations (new long-term regulations/E7), whereby Hino became subject to tax preferential treatment (Japan) as a result of the fuel consumption standards for heavy-vehicles introduced, misconducted was discovered in relation to the fuel consumption measurements, mainly for heavy-duty engines.
• Heavy-duty engines, “E13C” and “A09C” At the time of the 2005 emissions regulations (new long-term regulations/E7), it was discovered that Hino aimed to achieve the fuel consumption standards in order to be eligible for tax preferential treatment but failed to achieve its goal, and thus, it engaged in misconduct by intentionally adjusting the calibration values of the fuel flowmeter in order to meet the specification values required for application. Thereafter, Hino proceeded with development on the premise that the fuel consumption standards had been achieved under the 2005 emissions regulations. Regarding the 2009 emissions regulations (post- new long-term regulations/E8) and 2016 emissions regulations (post- post- new long-term regulations/E9), Hino continued to intentionally adjust the calibration values of the fuel flowmeter.
• Light-duty engine, “N04C (Urea-SCR)”/2016 emissions regulations (post- post- new long-term regulations/E9) In order to satisfy the specification values, Hino measured the idling fuel flow quantity before the fuel flow quantity was stabilized and engaged in misconduct by intentionally selecting advantageous fuel consumption data. (2) Industrial diesel engines (off-road engines) For a wide range of models, after the introduction of the 2011 regulations (Tier 3.5 regulations), it was discovered that misconduct occurred, mainly in relation to the durability test processes, as detailed below. In particular, for the three models of heavy-duty engines (E13C-YS, E13C-YM, and P11C-VN), performance values were intentionally falsified, despite individuals being aware of the possibility of such values not conforming with the values required by the regulations.
The report states that
Current models for which emissions regulation values might have been exceeded: Shipping of the relevant models has been suspended.
Current engine models or vehicle models, for which misconduct related to the engine certification process was detected (except those pertaining to (i) above): Hino has suspended shipping of the engine models or vehicle models equipped with engines for which emissions regulation values were not exceeded, but where misconduct related to the engine certification process was detected pursuant to the MLIT’s instructions.