The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that US District Court Judge Mark A. Goldsmith for the Eastern District of Michigan accepted Hino Motors, Ltd.’s guilty plea to a one-count criminal information charging it with having engaged in a multi-year criminal conspiracy to defraud both the United States government and American consumers and illicitly smuggle goods into the country.

Judge Goldsmith also sentenced Hino Motors, Ltd., a Toyota subsidiary, to pay a criminal fine of $521.76 million, serve a five-year term of probation—during which it is prohibited from importing any diesel engines it has manufactured into the United States—and implement a comprehensive compliance and ethics program and reporting structure. The court also entered a $1.087 billion forfeiture money judgment against the company.

According to court records, between 2010 and 2019, Hino Motors, Ltd. engineers submitted and caused to be submitted false applications for engine certification approvals in violation of the federal Clean Air Act. Hino Motors, Ltd. engineers regularly altered emission test data, conducted tests improperly and fabricated data without conducting any underlying tests. The engineers also submitted fraudulent carbon dioxide emissions test data, which resulted in false fuel consumption values being calculated for its engines, and failed to disclose software functions that could adversely affect engines’ emission control systems.

As a result of the fraud, Hino Motors, Ltd. imported and sold more than 105,000 non-conforming engines between 2010 and 2022. These engines were primarily installed in heavy-duty trucks manufactured and sold by Hino nationwide.

Special agents of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and FBI’s Detroit Field Office investigated the criminal case.