Recently, Toyota faced a concerning situation when it decided to halt the dispatch of several of its popular models in India including the Toyota Innova Crysta, Fortuner, Hilux, and Land Cruiser. When its diesel engines were being tested for domestic emissions in Japan, a disparity in power delivery was found, which led to the decision. However, Toyota has since lifted this temporary suspension after confirming that their diesel engines comply with Indian regulations.
To provide more context for those unfamiliar with the issue it is important to note that there wasn't a fundamental flaw with the diesel engines themselves. Rather, during testing, they were equipped with a different Engine Control Unit (ECU) than the one intended for the production engines installed in customer vehicles. While the vehicles already fitted with these diesel engines remain safe and roadworthy Toyota needed time to thoroughly evaluate the implications of this new information. Consequently, there was a brief pause in the dispatch of affected vehicles, which has now been resolved. Consequently, there will be no changes to the waiting times for these Toyota models.
When contacted about the matter, a Toyota representative clarified that the anomalies mainly concerned the "smoothing" of power and torque curves and that they did not lead to any exaggerations or errors concerning horsepower, torque, or other metrics linked to the engine. Furthermore, neither the emissions nor the safety of the impacted vehicles are negatively impacted by these anomalies and Toyota is actively collaborating with the relevant authorities to verify the data used for the automobiles' certification. As a result, the dispatch of affected vehicles by Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd (TKM) will also be temporarily suspended. However, new orders will continue to be accepted. For vehicles that have already been dispatched but not yet delivered to customers, Toyota will provide thorough explanations of the situation to customers. Subsequently, registration and delivery will proceed for customers who choose to receive their vehicles.
The models affected by this investigation include those equipped with the 2.4-liter engine (found in the Toyota Innova Crysta), the 2.8-liter engine (used in the Toyota Hilux and Toyota Fortuner), and the 3.3-liter engine (found in the Toyota Land Cruiser).