Toyota appeals $2 billion DPF class action decision

Toyota Australia is appealing a Federal Court judgement handed down in April that ruled in favour of owners who brought a class action against the car-maker over alleged defects linked to diesel particulate filters (DPFs) in their vehicles.

The company is facing payouts of $2 billion or more after Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found that the 264,170 vehicles concerned – Toyota HiLux, Prado and Fortuner models sold between October 2015 and April 2020 – failed to comply with the statutory guarantee as to “acceptable quality” provided under Australian Consumer Law.

In determining that the value of the impacted cars had reduced by 17.5 per cent based on the average retail price, Justice Lee’s ruling could see owners receive more than $7000 each in compensation.

Beyond the huge sums involved in this reduced-value compensation – more than $1.85 billion, based on the sheer number of vehicles involved – Toyota Australia could also be required to pay damages to owners who have suffered losses in other areas, such as lost income and excess tax payments.

Now, nine weeks after the judgement was handed down, Toyota Australia has today vowed to fight the Federal Court judgement, challenging the “factual and legal basis” for the awarding of damages.

In a statement, the company said: “Toyota has been, and remains committed to, assisting any customer whose vehicle experiences the DPF issue and to providing free-of-charge repairs.

“We have today lodged an appeal in the Federal Court of Australia.

“Toyota’s appeal includes challenges to the factual and legal basis for the award of damages, particularly in circumstances where many of the group members did not experience the DPF issue.

“At the same time, we understand some customers have experienced inconvenience and discomfort from this issue. For this we apologise.

“We have worked continuously since becoming aware of DPF concerns on an effective resolution for affected customers.

“At every step, we have implemented customer-focused and technically grounded remedies to resolve customers’ concerns.”

As carsales has reported, the long-running dispute with owners relates to the DPF fitted to both the 1GD-FTV 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine and the 2GD-FTV 2.4-litre.

The DPFs have not always regenerated automatically and have also been prone to blowing unburnt fuel in the form of white smoke and emitting a noxious odour during regeneration.

No safety recall was issued, but Toyota Australia has conducted customer service campaigns to attend to the problem and made running changes to all three vehicles concerned.

The car-maker also upgraded its DPF warranty to 10 years and, as part of a separate investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), promised to review its systems and procedures for handling customer complaints.

Further information on Toyota’s response to the class action is provided on the car-maker’s website here.

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