More diesel drama for Toyota HiLux

Toyota has confirmed the dusting issue that drops the 2.8-litre turbo-diesel engine in the HiLux, Prado and Fortuner into limp-home mode remains unfixed.

That piles more bad news on for Australia’s biggest selling vehicle brand, which is battling a class action lawsuit over the diesel particulate filter (DPF) in the same engine and models.

The ABC has now reported hundreds of fines have been issued to the HiLux, Australia’s top-selling vehicle, for blowing smoke.

The lawsuit alleges that rather than trapping and burning off particulates, the DPF causes smelly white smoke to be emitted from the exhaust and increase fuel consumption engine wear and tear.

Toyota launched a customer service campaign to address the issue in 2018 and is now contesting the class action.

The model year 2019 update rolling out now in HiLux had been the earliest opportunity for Toyota in Japan to update the flawed airbox of the 1GD-FTV engine and cure the dusting issue, but the design remains unchanged.

The problem is caused by a dust leak past the air filter that corrupts the mass air flow sensor, cuts the 1GD-FTV 2.8-litre turbo-diesel engine’s power and switches off safety features including stability and traction control.

This issue, like the DPF drama, now potentially affects more than 200,000 vehicles in-service in Australia. But Toyota argues it only occurs in extreme off-road conditions and affects only a tiny portion of owners.

“Nothing much has changed since last time we spoke,” confirmed Toyota Australia Vice President Sales and Marketing Sean Hanley at the GR Supra launch this week. “This occurrence happens in very extreme driving conditions.

“We have a fix for that if that incident occurs. We ask customers to bring the car to their local dealer … and we will put it through a cleaning process.

“We will also give them written advice or advice on how to deal with that and reduce the incidence going forward.”

Hanley said he could not commit to a design change fixing the problem being made in the next 12 months.

“But we are certainly looking at technical upgrades, always,” he said. “Any incident we get with any car we report through to our technical division. And this is no different, we have done that.

“Our technical division has looked at all aspects of the condition. How it occurs, how often it occurs, when it occurs, how to take preventative steps to stop it occurring.

“And that includes the fixes I have outline d to you today and potential technical fixes for the future.”

The ABC contacted authorities nationwide to establish which vehicles were being reported for expelling excess smoke.

In its story it quoted Victorian EPA figures because they are the most comprehensive. Toyota topped the list in 2018/19 with 792 reports, 339 of which were for HiLux. The EPA did not specify whether white or black smoke was being expelled.