Faulty Toyotas being Recalled
On March 7, 2012 Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., located in Torrance, California, announced a voluntary safety recall on close to 680,000 of its vehicles. Included in the recall are 70,500 Camrys from 2009, 116,000 Venzas from 2009-2011 and 495,000 Tacoma Trucks from 2005-2009. The recall involves two completely different issues.
In the case of the Camrys and the Venzas, there is a problem with the installation of the contact-type stop lamp switch. The installation occurred at one of the North American assembly plants. In this case, silicone grease may have gotten into the inside of the switch. The result may be an increase in electrical resistance which may cause the warning lights on the dashboard to light up. The result is that the car may not start or there may be an inability to move the shift lever into the ‘Park” position. In the most extreme cases, the stop lamps may stop working.
There are not enough replacement parts in stock and Toyota is trying to get a sufficient quantity of them together to be able to offer all those who may need them, replacement parts. Owners will be notified when the replacement parts are available and Toyota will advise the owners to take their vehicle to an authorized Toyota dealer so that the stop land switch can be changed at no cost to the owner. It is likely that the repair will be an easy one taking less than 30 minutes to accomplish.
In the case of the Tacoma Trucks, there is an issue that may result in the airbag becoming inoperable. According to Toyota “ 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.”
Again in this case, Toyota is making the necessary effort to get the replacement parts and it is expected that owners will receive a notice to take their vehicle in for the necessary replacement at an authorized Toyota dealer sometime in early April. Owners should receive a notice about the recall shortly letting them know that they will receive a second notification when the parts are available. This repair should also take about 30 minutes once an appointment has been confirmed.
According to the Toyotawebsite“detailed information is available to customers at www.toyota.com/recall and the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331.”
