It’s been a few months since the last big Toyota recall, so it probably comes as no surprise to some of you that Toyota has issued recalls a grand total of 681,000 Camry, Venza and Tacoma vehicles.
The smaller portion of the recall involves 70,500 model year 2009 Camrys, and 116,000 Venzas from 2009 to 2011.
Explains Toyota:
During installation of the contact-type stop lamp switch on one of the North American assembly lines, silicon grease may have reached the inside of the switch and caused an increase in electrical resistance. If this occurs, warning lamps on the instrument panel may be illuminated, the vehicle may not start, or the shift lever may not shift from the “Park” position. In some cases, the vehicle stop lamps may become inoperative.
Once Toyota has all the parts needed to make the fix, notify affected owners by first class mail. The car company says it should only take about 30 minutes for the fix to be made and it will be done at no charge.
The much larger slice of this recall pie belongs to the 495,000 Tacoma trucks from model years 2005 to early 2009. These vehicles are being recalled to replace the steering wheel spiral cable assembly:
Due to the combination of steering wheel spiral cable design and characteristics unique to the Tacoma chassis, friction between the spiral cable and the retainer in the steering wheel spiral cable assembly may occur in some vehicles. Friction over time may result in loss of connectivity to the driver’s air bag module. If connectivity is lost, the air bag warning lamp on the instrument panel will remain illuminated after starting the vehicle and the driver’s air bag may be deactivated, preventing deployment in the event of a crash.
Toyota hopes to alert affected Tacoma owners in early April. Once again, the fix should only require about 30 minutes and will be done gratis at the Toyota dealeship.
If you feel like talking to Toyota on the phone, call the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331.
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NHTSA Investigating 1.3 Million Fords, Toyotas & Hondas For Safety-Related Issues
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Toyota, Honda & Nissan Recall 3.4M Vehicles Because Air Bags Need To Work
This is the kind of recall that generates revenue — small fix and the dealer has opportunity to sell other maintenance
Toyota looks like they finally “get it.” These are two defects that have not resulted in any reported accidents, lead to warning lamps lighting up on the dash, and are not “oh my, I can’t drive this car” kind of problems, but they are getting recalled anyway.
The old Toyota would have issued a TSB for cars that failed under warranty and let the problem go.
I think the old Toyota would have just had a silent recall, where those who didn’t go to the dealer for other stuff would have never heard about it.
I’m so glad they were all over the list of best cars by Consumer Reports. What a joke.
The Toyotathon of recalls continues…
“If this occurs, warning lamps on the instrument panel may be illuminated, the vehicle may not start, or the shift lever may not shift from the “Park” position.”
So the indicator lights may not work, or the car may not actually go anywhere. You know… little stuff.
Buy American and you wont have this problem.
Actually, Honda’s and Toyota’s create more US jobs than a lot of the domestic cars do.
Honda builds more cars here than Japan.
Chevy AVEO? Made in Korea
Ford Fusion and Fiesta ? Made in Mexico so is GMC Sierra
Camaro, Edge and Flex? Canada
Aveo is dead. Its was replaced by the Sonic that is made in America.
Try to keep up.
+1
While in-sourcing is definitely a great trend, Ford alone employs more Americans that all of the non-Big 3 manufacturers combined. It’s the same thing with GM.
Actually, it’s not just the vehicle factories you should be concerned with. Look at the suppliers as well. Toyota’s “just in time” manufacturing more or less dictates that parts come from suppliers near the factory. So the Camry made in the US, in addition to creating jobs at the Toyota plant, also indirectly creates jobs at all the tier 1 suppliers feeding the plant.
wow, let’s take a shot at the most popular car company in America without any comparison of the thousands of recalls of all of the other brands. turns out that last bunch of recalls regarding sudden accelleration were proven to be driver error. looks like consumerist has got an agenda and good ol Toyota is in their crosshairs.
That statement is absurd right on its face. Consumerist is owned by Consumer Reports. In spite of everything that’s happened to Toyota’s reputation in the past two years, CR’s latest list of best cars was still absurdly over-populated with Toyotas, and was posted right here on Consumerist a few weeks ago. They post the good and the bad.
No they were mostly floor mats and also toyota said gas pedal design. Don;t try and white wash toyotas flaws, they try and do that enough and CR eats it up.
Consumerist seems to go after all of the auto manufactures — A recall of over a half million is major news, regardless of who makes the vehicle.
The era of European and Asian automotive superiority over the
U.S. is truly -OVER- so get used to it.
We saved GM and Chrysler and they are back with a vengence!!
Note that GM -and- Ford -and- Chrysler now have 3 car divisions, the optimal
number for real competition.
GM is now the largest car maker in the world again surpassing Toyota.
Before you American-car haters start up (I’m watching you CR), try driving
some new American product instead of just giving a solid red circle to anything
that isn’t American-made -and- designed. Now more and more non-American
auto firms are starting to suck in quality and design.
Welcome to the global economy! Let’s keep leveling the playing field and see
how things go!
I recall owning a Toyota…won’t be doing it again