Where did you find that, Toyota Tech Info? FWIW, 4th and 3rd gens wer 27 lb/ft, and 2nd gen was 28 lb/ft.
There you go: Properly torqued they won't. Besides, drain plugs and pans are a wearable item since something (the plug) goes in and out and is constantly torqued at services... just like wheel lug studs etc. If _____ then _____.
Never heard "in.lbf", Chilton's term before. It's pounds, one foot from fulcrum still. I'd assume. Broke down and looked it up: Pound-foot (torque) - Wikipedia. ^Reading through the above, way too much information: The name "pound-foot", intended to minimize confusion with the foot-pound as a unit of work, was apparently first proposed by British physicist Arthur Mason Worthington.[6] Despite this, in practice torque units are commonly called the foot-pound (denoted as either lb-ft or ft-lb) or the inch-pound (denoted as in-lb).[7][8] Practitioners depend on context and the hyphenated abbreviations to know that these refer to neither energy nor moment of mass (as the symbol ft-lb rather than lbf-ft would imply). Similarly, an inch-pound (or pound-inch) is the torque of one pound of force applied to one inch of distance from the pivot, and is equal to 1⁄12 lbf⋅ft (0.1129848 N⋅m). It is commonly used on torque wrenches and torque screwdrivers for setting specific fastener tension.
since 40 newton meter is known, the converted pound-force foot is closer to 29.50. i would set 29.50 ft lbs on the digital torque wrench. 30 ft lbs may look too tight but when compared to my 7th gen accord's drain plug torque specs at 33 ft lbs, it becomes relative. it's possible the oem crush washer needed that much force to get crushed. some folks may opt to use washers that have rubber gasket in them and they don't need to be torqued just snug tight plus a quarter turn.
28 ft. lbs, is the standard torque value for a bolt with an M12x1.25 thread pitch holding two components together. This is the J.I.S. standard that Toyota specifies for all bolts of that pitch, including the oil pan drain plug. Practically, the oil pan "bolt" plug does not hold anything together. It is not mechanically fastening the crush washer to the oil pan. The crush washer only needs enough pressure to make an oil tight seal. On that I account, I never tighten the oil drain plug to 28 ft. lbs. I have examined oil pans and oil drain plugs tightened multiple times to 28 ft lbs. The malleable steel threads are eventually equally deformed and bent out of shape. For my own use, I have gone to magnetic aluminum drain plugs. The steel oil pan hole threads are stronger than the aluminum plug threads. The oil pan threads are less likely deformed from multiple on and off cycles, while the aluminum threads of the plug are more likely to do so in a "sacrificial" function. It is much cheaper and easier to replace a damaged aluminum drain plug.
I never used a torque wrench on an oil pan bolt, just tighten by feel. Never compared it to a torque wrench but 30 is a lot on the threads. They have to give a value, they can’t say tighten by feel.