toyota recalls 1 million vehicles

Toyota recall hits 1M vehicles

Faulty parts in 10 models worldwide will be replaced; drivers could lose control of the steering wheel.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it is recalling nearly 1 million vehicles across the globe to replace faulty parts that could cause drivers to lose control of the steering wheel.

The recall affects about 986,000 vehicles across 10 models, including its popular Prius hybrid car. More than half of the affected vehicles are in Japan, company officials said.

The intermediate shafts and sliding yokes in the recalled cars lack the necessary strength and could distort or crack under strong pressure, causing drivers to lose control of the steering wheel, the Japanese automaker said in a statement.

In the United States, Toyota is recalling about 170,000 Prius models because the steering shaft assembly could become loose or crack under certain conditions.

Toyota said there have been no reported crashes or injuries connected to the problem in the United States. Owners are expected to be notified of the recall in mid-June.

In Japan, the recall involves a total of 565,756 vehicles manufactured under the Wish, Isis, Prius, Corolla, Corolla Runx, Corolla Fielder, Corolla Spacio, Allex and Ractis brands between September 2002 and November 2005, according to the statement.

The number in Japan included more than 300,000 Wish cars and more than

113,000 Prius cars.

Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong said the recall involves about 240,000 vehicles in Europe, including the Prius, Corolla and Avensis. An additional 10,000 vehicles were being recalled in other parts of the world, including China and New Zealand, he said.

The recall follows more than 30 complaints filed with Toyota since March 2004, the carmaker said. Toyota announced Japan's largest one-time recall in October, spending 15.5 billion yen ($139 million) to fix headlamps on 1.27 million vehicles. President Katsuaki Watanabe said earlier this month the automaker is planning to create a senior managing director position responsible for maintaining vehicle quality.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

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Reply to
badgolferman
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GM quality at Toyota prices.

Reply to
Art

Persoanlly, I think this is a refreshing change for Toyota. Far better to recall defective vehciels that to claim nothing is wrong and that any problems are the Customers fault.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

Shut up, troll. At least Toyota works to fix problems like this, unlike the big 3.

Reply to
High Tech Misfit

*snip*

This makes me want a pious even less.

Natalie

*snipping more*
Reply to
Wickeddoll®

Actually what is amusing is that with all the complicated stuff, something bread and butter has to be recalled.

Reply to
Art

I don't think it is that surprising. Toyota probably farmed the steering gear parts out to a supplier. The supplier change something to cut costs. Since the part is so simple and used so extensively, nobody though to test the "refinement." And then the problem showed up. I've seen it more than once where I work. You squeeze the supplier and they cut corners without really making it clear that they have changed something until it is too late. Toyota (like many OEMs) is know for squeezing suppliers. I am guessing this time it burned them.

I saw where Toyota is creating a new executive position to try and correct all their recent quality problems. A very GM like thing to do. I guess that is Moving Forward.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

Except for them it will probably work.

You have to consider this: GM sells cars all over the world, but the bulk of them is in the US.

Toyota sells cars all over the world. And they sell ALL over the world. I'd be willing to bet they solve their quality problems LONG before GM even starts to think about it.

Reply to
Hachiroku

I would bet that the Toyota position will actually do something.

That is the problem (well one of the problems...) at GM.

Reply to
Scott in Florida

Yup - GM created executive jobs to spread the wealth among the hierarchy, not to help the customers.

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll®

GM Formula for Recall:

n =number of cars with potential safety defects m =average lawsuit settlement for victim p =percentage of cars which will fail

c =cost of correcting recall vechicle

z=cost of lawsuits from victims ( n * p * m )

r = cost of recall ( n * c )

if z < r then don't do the recall

Pretty scary huh?

Reply to
mike.frankl

Please don't feed the trolls.

Reply to
High Tech Misfit

And sadly true

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll®

That's exactly what I was thinking...

Accountability, what a concept!

Reply to
B A R R Y

Totyota uses the same formula, except in the past Toyota management has clamined that n was zero. The steering colum recall is the first one I can remember where Toyota wasn't dragged kicking and screaming into doing it. Sometime when you have a few minutes, go to the NHTSA database and read all the letter related to the Toyota Truck Ball Joint Recall. It is a good for a laugh or two.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

[...]

Eminently rational, I'd say. And I doubt that this formula is unique to GM. Ford seems to have used such a calculus where the Pinto's gas tank defect was concerned.

Where did you see this, by the way?

Of course, invoking a recall because of the likelihood of costly lawsuits and the bad PR resulting from them doesn't preclude invoking a recall _also_ because people's safety is at stake.

Geoff

Reply to
Geoff Miller

People used to say the Toyota quality was great because they would test out a design for a few years in Japan before selling it in the US. And that might explain some of the problems with the Avalon. However GM can build the same car for 5 years and it still sucks.

Reply to
Art

LOL

Natalie

Reply to
Wickeddoll®

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