DRAFT Yokohama hose for Toyota turbo engines

Tokyo –  Yokohama Rubber is to supply PTFE hose piping for use in the oil supply lines of turbo-diesel GD engines for Toyota's new Hilux models, Yokohama announced 8 Aug.

Use of the fluoropolymer hoses, reduces the steps and man-hours required to mount oil supply lines, said Yokohama, which began making the products at its Nagano plant in February 2015. Production was transferred to Yokohama Rubber (Thailand) Co., Ltd this January.

In recent years, engine layouts have become more compact, resulting in tighter spaces for mounting oil lines in turbo diesel engines and making it more difficult to reduce the man-hours required to mount conventional pipe lines.

In response, Yokohama applied its proprietary technologies in metal fittings and hoses to greatly simplify the mounting process by using flexible PTFE hoses.

To meet high quality requirements, Yokohama separated manufacturing processes and redesigned a production line, enabling it to produce one product at a time. It also developed jigs to simplify product testing: reducing the time required to produce a finished product.

Toyota is manufacturing the GD engines at a plant in Thailand and plans to use the engine in cars sold in more than 150 countries and regions by 2020.