Toyota Land Cruiser, Hilux, Hiace, Lexus 500d: Problem mit dem Diesel

Weeks of scandal at Toyota: After falsified crash test results, the carmaker admits its next mistake.

The list of Toyota scandals is short. Now it grows back a little. The world’s largest car manufacturer has increased the engine power of several diesel models. This was based on comparing the measurement data. As a result, the company has now temporarily suspended delivery of the affected models.

A total of ten different versions of the Land Cruiser off-road vehicle, Hilux pick-up, Hiace van and Lexus 500d are affected. These types are sold all over the world – including in various European countries, including Germany.

The faulty engines were manufactured by a subsidiary of Toyota Industrie Corporation (TICO). It turned out that the performance of the special engine differed greatly from the real thing, Toyota announced on Monday (local time) in Japan. “Abnormal test results” were found, reports the afp news agency.

In short: the engine is much weaker than the one promised to customers. It is not known at the moment how big the deviations are and if this will have any consequences for the drivers of the affected vehicles.

The manufacturer explains the cause of the error as follows: When developing cars, certain control devices were installed to measure the performance of the engine. However, other control devices were used in later series models. This resulted in different information.

Toyota initially halted shipments of the affected models. However, once they are proven correct, the company wants to produce models for resale.

It is not the first time that Toyota has hit the headlines because of problems. Just a few weeks ago, the company had to admit that a number of crash test results were changed. 64 Toyota and Daihatsu models were affected. As a result, sales of all models of the sub-brand car were halted worldwide.

Earlier in 2022, Hino’s van subsidiary had to admit that it had submitted incorrect consumption and emissions data to the registration authority.

Things got off to a rocky start at Toyota in the 2010s: At that time, the company fell into disrepute due to a series of quality problems. Stuck accelerator pedals, unwanted acceleration and stalling problems tarnished the manufacturer’s image. Toyota had to recall millions of vehicles and eventually agreed to pay billions in fines.