Toyota Will Stop Using Gas Believed Harmful to Ozone

Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s largest automobile manufacturer, said Friday that it will stop using the gases blamed for destroying the Earth’s protective ozone layer.

Toyota spokesman Anthony McMillan said that by 1995, the company will stop using the gas for cleaning and cooling during the manufacturing process.

Toyota used 2,800 tons of CFC during 1988, he said. The Toyota group, which includes affiliated parts suppliers, used 9,500 tons last year, McMillan said.

Nippondenso Co., a major producer of electronic parts and a member of the Toyota group, also has agreed to stop using CFC, he said.

Earlier this week, two other auto makers, General Motors Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., announced measures to reduce their use of CFCs. Honda Motor Co. also has decided to cease using the gas by the mid-1990s.

The automobile industry consumes 14% of all CFC used in Japan, auto makers say.

At a meeting in 1987 in Montreal, Canada, 38 countries agreed to reduce the production and use of the gases. Under the Montreal Protocol, participating countries must freeze their CFC consumption at the 1986 level by July 1 this year and reduce consumption to 5% of the 1986 level by the end of 1999.