If anyone wanted to define auto manufacturers as’ The circle of the Furbetti ‘, would not go very far from the truth. In particular when it comes to the theme ‘ emissions ‘, it seems that various car brands have really tried them all to escape the ties imposed by different states.

Il dieselgate , which saw Volkswagen as the protagonist of having equipped its vehicles with systems capable of cheating during the tests of the regulatory bodies international, especially the US, was the most striking case, with a fine from ben 25 billions of dollars. Daimler was also found guilty of such conduct and received a fine of 2.2 billion.

Toyota: emissions report overdue for years

Toyota in recent years has spent great energy in creating a green image, in particular by placing a strong emphasis on its hybrid vehicles, with low consumption and – consequently – low emissions. But now comes the news that, precisely on the issue of emissions, the Japanese giant has received a fine from 180 Millions of dollars by the US Department of Justice. The accusation is that of having intentionally delayed and failed to deliver several reports on emissions over the decade 600 – 2015.

The US Department of Justice and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that the United States has filed and simultaneously settled a civil lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor North America Inc., Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., and Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc. (Toyota) for systematic, longstanding violations of Clean Air Act emission-related defect reporting requirements, which require manufacturers to report potential defects and recalls affecting vehicle components designed to control emissions .

The press release from the Department of Justice is clear: Toyota has for years forgotten to deliver on time (there have been delays of up to 8 years) i report on vehicles that do not comply with North American standards in terms of emissions and to proceed with the consequent recall campaigns . According to the judges, failure to comply with the rules established by the US government has led Toyota to make greater profits and to exceed for years in polluting gas emissions . Behind the green image of hybrid cars, the American market for Toyota sees a very important rib in trucks, such as the huge pickups with engines of cubic capacity equal to several liters, at the top of the rankings in terms of emissions.

This is the highest fine for a civil proceeding for breach of EPA emissions regulations , even if it is orders of magnitude less than the damages of the criminal proceedings for the dieselgate. In absolute terms that’s a lot of money 180 millions of dollars, but when compared with the turnover of only one year of the Japanese car manufacturer, they are small: in the 2019 Toyota’s global turnover was 272 billion dollars. It is not the first time that Toyota has been fined, already in 2003 had to pay 20 millions of dollars for placing on the US market 2.2 million vehicles with non-compliant on-board diagnostic systems.

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