Toyota Recalls

A panel of analysts assembled by Toyota Motor Corporation last year to identify problems that led to the recall of more than 14 million Toyota vehicles found several flaws in the way the company addresses consumer complaints. Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater was one of seven members on the panel, and he headed the investigation that presented its findings recently. Many of the flaws the panel discovered stemmed from Toyota’s tendency to dismiss consumer complaints and a lack of clear procedure for handling safety problems. Regular readers of this blog will remember that Toyota’s safety problems involving floor mats, sticking accelerators and sudden, unintended acceleration have led to lots of auto accidents here in the U.S. and around the world that have killed and injured hundreds of people.
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A federal investigation into Toyota’s well-documented safety problems in many of its most popular models found no evidence of electronic flaws to explain numerous reports of sudden, uncontrolled and unintended acceleration and other problems. Government safety investigators issued their much-anticipated report recently and stated that the causes of the problems were mechanical in nature and that Toyota has addressed them in recent recalls.
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Toyota Motor Company announced a new recall recently that affects nearly 1.7 million of their luxury Lexus models. The problem is due to two fuel leak problems. The larger recall affects 1.3 million Lexus sedans sold in Japan, 225,000 sold in the U.S. and 10,000 sold in Europe. The recall concerns the improper installation of a fuel pressure sensor. In some cases, the sensor has vibrated loose, allowing fuel to leak into the engine compartment and create a serious fire hazard. The models sold in the U.S. that are affected by the recall include the following:
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The U.S. Government’s investigation into the sudden acceleration problems in many Toyota vehicles has produced no evidence of faulty electronics in any of the 58 crashed Toyotas that it examined. Federal regulators recently released a report on the vehicles, saying that only one of the vehicles had an accelerator that became stuck under a floor mat and that none of the other vehicles had gas pedals that became stuck or went back into position too slowly. Although the investigation is ongoing, the early evidence is troubling as Toyota has recalled around nine million vehicles to correct floor mats and sticky accelerator pedals.
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Toyota has formally announced yet another recall. This time, faulty engines are the culprit and the recall affects a total of 270,000 Lexus sedans. Toyota has recalled 90,000 Lexus and Crown sedans in Japan and plans to recall an additional 180,000 models sold in the U.S. and other markets. Toyota claims defective valve springs in some V6 and V8 engines can cause unstable idling and engine stalls.
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Toyota is wasting no time in halting sales of its Lexus GX 460 SUV after a troubling Consumer Reports release included a rare “Do Not Buy” rating for the vehicle.

At issue in the review is a condition where the back end of the vehicle is likely to slide into a curve if the driver decreases acceleration while turning a corner. Auto experts call this “trailing throttle oversteer,” and it can lead to a dangerous rollover situation.
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For the many U.S. government officials, consumer advocates and others looking critically at Toyota’s response to its enormous 2009 recall, there’s breaking news that makes the picture beyond corporate walls much clearer.

Toyota has turned over a vast amount of information, some of which has gotten through to the Associated Press. In it are e-mails from one Toyota executive suggesting that the company should “come clean” about the acceleration problems that are now the primary focus of the recall campaign.
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In a surprise statement to market analysts April 7, the chairperson of the Toyota Company, Mr. Akio Toyoda, indicated he feels “communications,” not defective vehicles, were to blame for the current situation in which Toyota finds itself. Toyota is experiencing a recall of over 8 million vehicles, many reports of sudden or unintended acceleration by Toyota drivers and intense scrutiny from government officials including congressional panels and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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More details are coming out about this year’s massive Toyota recall including information about who knew what and when. As the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration prepares to pursue fines and penalties against the Toyota for what it considers to be a pattern of inaction on major safety issues, officials are looking at a timeline for how various national agencies were notified about problems with accelerator pedals in Toyota vehicles.

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Toyota Motor Corporation recently agreed to pay a record $16.4 million fine for its failure to alert U.S. safety officials in a timely manner about a dangerous defect in its accelerator pedals but flatly denied that it had broken any laws. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said that “by failing to report known safety problems as it is required to do under the law, Toyota put consumers at risk.” Toyota agreed to pay the fine “to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation.” Toyota recall accident attorney James O. Cunningham continues to monitor this story with great interest.

Resource link: Toyota pays Record $16.4 Million Fine