Toyota Motor Corp. said it would recall about
690,00 Tacoma 4X4 and Tacoma pre-runner
pickup trucks in the U.S. to fix issues with the
vehicles' rear suspension system.
"The involved vehicles' rear suspension system
contains leaf springs that are constructed of
either three or four leaves. There is a possibility
that a leaf could fracture due to stress and
corrosion," Toyota said in a statement today .
If the vehicle continues to be used, it could lead
to the broken leaf coming in contact with
surrounding components, including the fuel tank
and causing a leak, the company said.
"In the presence of an ignition source, this could
result in a fire," the car maker said.
Toyota said it was not aware of any injuries due
to the potential defect. The vehicles belong to
model years 2005-2011, the company said.
Corolla query
Meanwhile, U.S. investigators are looking into
complaints by some owners of Toyota Corolla
sedans who said the cars experienced
unintended “low-speed surging,” similar to a
flaw that led to a recall of 10 million Toyotas five
years ago.
The preliminary investigation involves as many
as 1.69 million cars made by Toyota from model
years 2006 through 2010, according to a notice
today from the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration. A Corolla owner whose car
accelerated and crashed while attempting to park
petitioned the agency for a defect investigation,
saying there were 163 reports of similar
incidents.
NHTSA typically begins a preliminary
investigation or evaluation when consumer
complaints or manufacturer service bulletins
suggest there may be a harmful defect. Once
that evaluation is complete, the agency either
begins an engineering analysis or closes the
inquiry. Based on the outcome of the engineering
analysis, a vehicle may be recalled or the inquiry
may be closed with no further action.
Recall crisis
The complaints are reminiscent of unintended
acceleration episodes that pushed the world’s
largest automaker to recall millions of vehicles in
2009 and 2010. While those cases led to
Toyota’s modifications to gas pedals and floor
mats, NHTSA this time is focusing on Corollas
equipped with an electronic throttle-control
system called ETCS-i.
A U.S. spokesman for the Japanese automaker
couldn’t immediately be reached to comment on
NHTSA’s inquiry or the Corolla petitioner’s
claims.
Safety Research and Strategies Inc., a Rehoboth,
Mass., company that works on court cases
alleging automotive defects, said the petitioners
have evidence from their car’s electronic data
recorder that the brakes were being applied while
their Corolla surged.
In March, Toyota agreed to a $1.2 billion
penalty, the largest ever for an automaker in the
U.S., in a criminal probe by the Justice
Department. The case found that company
executives misled the public and government
authorities over the causes for sudden-
acceleration incidents in 2009 and 2010.
Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this
report.
690,00 Tacoma 4X4 and Tacoma pre-runner
pickup trucks in the U.S. to fix issues with the
vehicles' rear suspension system.
"The involved vehicles' rear suspension system
contains leaf springs that are constructed of
either three or four leaves. There is a possibility
that a leaf could fracture due to stress and
corrosion," Toyota said in a statement today .
If the vehicle continues to be used, it could lead
to the broken leaf coming in contact with
surrounding components, including the fuel tank
and causing a leak, the company said.
"In the presence of an ignition source, this could
result in a fire," the car maker said.
Toyota said it was not aware of any injuries due
to the potential defect. The vehicles belong to
model years 2005-2011, the company said.
Corolla query
Meanwhile, U.S. investigators are looking into
complaints by some owners of Toyota Corolla
sedans who said the cars experienced
unintended “low-speed surging,” similar to a
flaw that led to a recall of 10 million Toyotas five
years ago.
The preliminary investigation involves as many
as 1.69 million cars made by Toyota from model
years 2006 through 2010, according to a notice
today from the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration. A Corolla owner whose car
accelerated and crashed while attempting to park
petitioned the agency for a defect investigation,
saying there were 163 reports of similar
incidents.
NHTSA typically begins a preliminary
investigation or evaluation when consumer
complaints or manufacturer service bulletins
suggest there may be a harmful defect. Once
that evaluation is complete, the agency either
begins an engineering analysis or closes the
inquiry. Based on the outcome of the engineering
analysis, a vehicle may be recalled or the inquiry
may be closed with no further action.
Recall crisis
The complaints are reminiscent of unintended
acceleration episodes that pushed the world’s
largest automaker to recall millions of vehicles in
2009 and 2010. While those cases led to
Toyota’s modifications to gas pedals and floor
mats, NHTSA this time is focusing on Corollas
equipped with an electronic throttle-control
system called ETCS-i.
A U.S. spokesman for the Japanese automaker
couldn’t immediately be reached to comment on
NHTSA’s inquiry or the Corolla petitioner’s
claims.
Safety Research and Strategies Inc., a Rehoboth,
Mass., company that works on court cases
alleging automotive defects, said the petitioners
have evidence from their car’s electronic data
recorder that the brakes were being applied while
their Corolla surged.
In March, Toyota agreed to a $1.2 billion
penalty, the largest ever for an automaker in the
U.S., in a criminal probe by the Justice
Department. The case found that company
executives misled the public and government
authorities over the causes for sudden-
acceleration incidents in 2009 and 2010.
Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this
report.
