The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered Toyota to pay a fine of 60 million dollars for misleading customers in the United States.

According to the international press, Toyota employees added extra products to the contracts of customers who bought cars via leasing without them asking, in other words, without their approval. The company even made it difficult to cancel products and services.

The products included irregularly were: Guaranteed Asset Protection, a type of insurance that covers the difference between the amount the consumer owes on the car loan and what the insurance pays out if the vehicle is stolen, damaged or totaled; Credit Life and Accidental Health Coverage, which covers the remaining balance of the loan if the borrower dies or becomes disabled; and vehicle service contracts, which reimburse borrowers for parts and services beyond what is covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

The Toyota Motor Credit Corporation, which committed these frauds, is the company's financial arm responsible for leasing and financing contracts for the brand's cars in the United States.

When they wanted to claim their contracts, Toyota would direct their customers to a hotline where the employees, instead of resolving the issue, would sell them other products. When the customer insisted, however, they were told that the only way to cancel the service was to file a written request.

More than 118,000 customers called the hotline between 2016 and 2021 trying to cancel services they hadn't contracted.