Hino Australia has gone on the defensive following the revelations last week that its parent company had admitted to large scale falsification of emission and fuel economy data.
Hino Motors in Japan announced on 4th March, that it it had suspended the sales of three of its engine models and the trucks and buses those engines were fitted to in Japan.
Hino’s local subsidiary, Hino Motor Sales Australia (HMSA) said the situation in Japan does not affect vehicles it sells here in Australia.
“The suspension of sale in Japan affects engine variants certified by the Japanese regulator, which have not been sold in Australia,” the company said.
“HMSA distributes Hino vehicles with many engine variants available for a broad range of uses across its light-duty (300 Series), medium-duty (500 Series) and heavy-duty (700 Series) trucks, as well as buses including the Poncho, RN and RK models,” the company added.
That statement was tempered with the rider that while there are no implications for the Australian market at this time, HML’s investigations are ongoing and that HMSA is committed to engaging with the relevant authorities about the matters.
Hino said that the move followed its identification of ‘past misconduct in relation to its applications for certification concerning the emissions and fuel economy performance of its engines for the Japanese market’.
The misconduct it identified concerned the falsification of engine performance data in emissions durability testing for one engine model and in the measurement of fuel economy performance in certification tests for two other engine models. the company said
In addition, HML identified a problem concerning the fuel economy performance of another engine model.
The announced misconduct and issues related to engine performance do not affect the drivability of the affected vehicles and raise no vehicle safety concerns the company said.
