Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has announced that it is using R134a instead of R1234yf amid safety concerns raised by its customers.
In a statement, the company said that it 'believes that it is the mission of automotive companies to provide consumers with vehicles that they can feel secure with, but unfortunately there is currently no consensus on this issue within the European market. So we took the temporary measure of using 134a in order to alleviate the concerns of our customers and give the highest priority to their sense of safety and security. Once this situation has been settled and consensus reached, we will proceed in line with that result.'
The company has also said that in conducting its own internal tests on 1234yf, it found no safety concerns, and was additionally in agreement with the conclusions of the Society of Automotive Engineers' Common Research Program.