Toyota launches appeal against $2 billion DPF compensation case

Toyota Australia is to appeal a Federal Court decision which found it misled customers about vehicles fitted with defective diesel particulate filters (DPF).

If Toyota loses, the battle could cost the manufacturer more than $2 billion in compensation to 250,000 owners.

In April this year, the Federal Court found Toyota had misled customers about a defect with the DPF equipped to cars fitted with either a 2.4-litre ‘2GD-FTV’ or 2.8-litre ‘1GD-FTV’ turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine, impacting a total of 264,170 vehicles built between October 1, 2015, and April 23, 2020 across the HiLux, Fortuner, and LandCruiser Prado model ranges.

While the Court believed Toyota's "conduct in marketing the vehicles as being of acceptable quality was misleading", the local division of the manufacturer intends to appeal the decision – claiming it has worked to issue a remedy for its customers.

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"Toyota has been, and remains, committed to assisting any customer whose vehicle experiences the DPF issue and to providing free-of-charge repairs", the manufacturer said.

"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."

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In the April finding, The Honourable Justice Lee deemed a 17.5 per cent reduction in the average retail value of an affected vehicle was appropriate as a penalty, coming to an average of just over $7000 per customer.

Solicitor Gilbert and Tobin is handling the class action of owners with funding from Balance Legal Capital, establishing a dedicated website for eligible group members who own an affected model.