Toyota has recently agreed to pay a whopping $180 million in order to settle certain claims regarding the company's failure to comply along with the US Clean Air Act for about a decade. This particular settlement was announced by the official US Department of Justice or DoJ this Thursday.
Toyota breaches Clean Air Act
According to an article by ZDNet, the complaint was actually an official civil lawsuit that was filed by the government of the United States and has currently been laid to rest since Toyota has paid the fine. The DoJ states that Toyota had conducted certain systematic, longstanding violations of the official Clean Air Act when it came to emission-related defect reporting requirements. This would require the manufacturers to report the potential defects as well as the affected vehicle components that were designed in order to control the emissions.
Over in the United States, the official Clean Air Act stipulates certain permissible levels of pollution just like nitrogen oxide or NOx that is produced by the vehicles being sold within the country according to the official government description. Automakers are now required to notify the EPA or Environmental Protection Agency when over 25 or more vehicles or even engines within a given year have said to have a defect that is related to emissions standards.
EDIR requirements
Manufacturers are required to file an EDIR or Emissions Defect Information Report as well as updating the agency regarding the progress in fixing the presented problems. The DoJ notes that Toyota has failed to do this.
According to the official prosecutor statement, the mandatory reporting requirements are very important to the overall Clean Air Act's main purpose of being able to protect both human health as well as the environment from certain harmful air pollutants. They also encourage the manufacturers to both investigate and voluntarily address these particular defects that could result in the excess emissions of certain harmful air pollutants.
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Delays up to eight years
The official complaint that was filed over in the Manhattan federal court alleges that starting roughly 2005 to 2015, Toyota had failed to comply with the reporting requirements and delayed at least 78 different EDIRs. It was noted that some of the delays were up to eight years overdue. These were alongside reports that were related to fixes for certain emissions-based issues in the vehicles.
Prosecutors estimate that the reports were actually linked to maybe millions of vehicles all with the potential to actually exhibit emission-related defects. The official civil penalty is currently the largest issued as of the moment when it comes to meeting the EPA reporting standards but is still subject to a period of time for certain public comment as well as the final court approval.
According to the Acting US Attorney Audrey Straus, Toyota now shuts its eyes to the particular noncompliance, failing to provide the proper training, attention, as well as the oversight to its official Clean Air Act reporting certain obligations.
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Written by Urian Buenconsejo
