Toyota will recall 6.76m vehicles globally including the popular Yaris/Vitz small cars and RAV4 SUVs, according to the company.
According to Bloomberg News, vehicles being recalled today include 919,654 Vitz cars, 146,678 RAV4 SUVs and 19,151 Porte vans in Japan alone, the nation’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said.
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Toyota’s UK unit said its recalls cover three issues affecting some RAV4, Hilux, Yaris and Urban Cruiser models with 35,124 UK-registered vehicles affected.
It said there had been no reports worldwide of any accidents, injuries or fatalities linked to these issues.
Spiral cable assembly – RAV4 and Hilux
There is a possible issue affecting the spiral cable assembly in the airbag module fitted to some RAV4 and Hilux models. Due to the shape and location of a retainer for the flexible flat cable in the airbag unit, there may be a risk when the steering wheel is turned of damage to certain circuits that provide connectivity to the airbag.
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By GlobalDataIf connectivity is lost, the airbag warning light will illuminate on the instrument panel and the driver’s airbag may be deactivated.
The vehicles subject to this recall are RAV4 and Hilux models manufactured in the period June 2004 and December 2010. This covers 24,785 UK-registered models, the number split broadly equally between the two models.
An improved spiral cable will be fitted – the job will take about one hour to complete.
Toyota GB noted this recall also includes some Land Cruiser models but none are registered in the UK.
Toyota Australia said it would recall 179,000 current generation Hilux vehicles built between April 2004 and December 2009 for the same fix.
Toyota Motor Sales, USA, said it would recall about 1.3m vehicles, including 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2008-2010 Highlander, 2009-2010 Tacoma, 2006-2008 RAV4 and 2006-2010 Yaris vehicles.
Seat rail spring – Yaris and Urban Cruiser
Toyota has found that the spring in the mechanism that locks the driver and (in three-door cars) front passenger seats in position on the seat adjustment rail may be under-strength and could break, should the seats be frequently moved back and forward.
Should the spring break, the seat may not lock into its adjusted position, and could move in the event of a crash.
The vehicles affected were built between January 2005 and August 2010. In total this covers 10,339 UK-registered cars.
All the vehicles affected by this issue are being recalled for inspection of the springs and, where required, replacement with new ones. The job will take between 40 and 90 minutes per seat, depending the model and work required.
Toyota Australia said it was recalling 118,600 previous generation Yaris three- and five-door hatchbacks and Yaris sedan vehicles built between June 2005 and May 2010 for the seat spring repair only.
Toyota Motor Sales, USA said about 472,500 vehicles were affected including 2006-2010 Yaris hatchback (158,000); 2007-2010 Yaris sedan (250,500); and 2008-2010 Scion xD vehicles (64,000).
Steering column bracket – Yaris and Urban Cruiser
Toyota is aware that the weld which connects the steering column bracket to the instrument panel on some Yaris and Urban Cruiser models might break when the steering wheel is repeatedly turned with full force.
The driver may hear an abnormal noise from the bracket area and if the vehicle continues to be driven, it is possible that the bracket will fail, causing the steering column to tilt out of position. However, the driver will not lose steering control.
The vehicles subject to this recall are second generation Yaris with tilt/telescopic steering wheel adjustment and Urban Cruiser models built within the period September 2005 to February 2009. In total this covers 1,293 UK-registered models.
All the vehicles affected by this issue are being recalled so that the bracket can be inspected. If no damage is found, an extra bracket will be fitted to avoid any problems occurring in future. If there is evidence of damage, a replacement instrument panel reinforcement will be fitted.
According to the work required, the job will take between two-and-a-half to four-and-a-half hours to complete.
This is the second major global recall for Toyota this year. It recalled 1.9m current Prius hybrids last February – over half of the models sold since its debut 17 years ago – for a software update to fix glitches that could cause them to lose power or shut down and stop.
Bloomberg News noted that Toyota president Akio Toyoda had pledged to improve Toyota’s recall process after regulators punished the company for covering up information and being too slow to call back more than 10m vehicles in 2009 and 2010.
Toyoda has instituted a three-year freeze on new car plants to shift the company’s priorities to quality and efficiency after the 2009-2010 recalls for problems tied to unintended acceleration.
Following its crisis, Toyota said it improved procedures that had been too dependent on decision-making in Japan and didn’t give regional operations the autonomy to make fixes. The carmaker also formed a global quality group that Toyoda has chaired.
Toyota agreed to pay US$1.2bn last month to end a US probe of its attempt to hide safety defects in the largest criminal penalty imposed on an automaker in the US. The company admitted wrongdoing and submitted to reviews by an independent monitor that will assess its safety reporting practices.
Recalls haven’t slowed down earnings, Bloomberg added. Toyota has forecast profit for the year ending 31 March 2014 would surge to a record JPY1.9 trillion ($18.6bn). The automaker has set a target of selling an unprecedented 10.32m vehicles in 2014 after leading GM and Volkswagen in global auto deliveries for a second straight year in 2013.
