Toyota Pins Viral Hycross Breakdown on Contaminated Fuel, While Industry Experts Defend E20 in Delhi

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) on Saturday said the breakdown of an Innova Hycross shown in a viral social media video was caused by fuel contamination and not E20 petrol, with its inspection finding no damage to any component or the fuel system.

The video, posted by Bihar-based content creator Manish Kashyap, showed his hybrid Hycross at a Toyota service centre after it developed engine vibration and knocking at around 12,000 km, by his account. Kashyap blamed the shift to ethanol-blended petrol, criticised Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and argued that consumers should have the option of buying unblended fuel.

TKM said the Hycross in question is an E20-compatible vehicle that is designed, tested and certified for the fuel. "Based on our detailed technical assessment of the vehicle, the issue was due to fuel contamination," the company said. As per its service protocol, the fuel tank and lines were drained, cleaned and refilled with standard E20 fuel, after which the vehicle was found to be normal and returned to the customer.

The incident, TKM said, "is not related to E20 fuel usage and was solely caused by non-standard and contaminated fuel". The company advised customers to refuel only at authorised and reputed outlets.

The rebuttal came on a day of coordinated industry pushback. At a media briefing in New Delhi on Saturday, former Engineers India chairman and managing director Vartika Shukla said ethanol blending had not been done overnight but through a measured, scientifically driven, step-by-step process involving automakers and testing agencies, with the blend rising from around 1.5 per cent in 2013-14 to 20 per cent by December 2025, five years ahead of the original target.

Maruti Suzuki senior executive officer for corporate affairs Rahul Bharti addressed the concern most relevant to owners of older vehicles. "As a manufacturer, we have tested E10 cars on E20 fuel for all parameters, and we have not found anything of concern," he said, adding that sufficient safety margins in vehicle design ruled out issues of wear, corrosion or component life even for pre-2023 vehicles.

Hero MotoCorp chief business officer Ashutosh Verma said analysis of crores of service records showed no incidence of higher damage in vehicles running on E20 compared with those on earlier fuels.

Toyota's country head for corporate affairs, Vikram Gulati, in a separate interview with ANI the same day, called claims that E20 damages vehicles false, citing a 2021 ARAI study, and described ethanol as a carbon-neutral fuel central to India's energy security.

The twin developments cap around a year of complaints from petrol vehicle owners over reduced mileage, fuel system trouble and warranty uncertainty since E20 became the standard fuel at pumps. The Petroleum Ministry on Friday dismissed as false and misleading social media claims that E20 harms vehicles, raises pollution and wastes water in ethanol crop production.