Toyota announced a massive recall of over 1 million vehicles in the U.S. on Wednesday. The cars named in the recall are 752,000 of the Corolla and Corolla Matrix models manufactured between December 2001 and May 2004. The reason for the recall is that the airbags do not properly inflate.
Toyota says that faulty circuit boards may cause a buildup of heat to spontaneously deploy of the airbags or seat belt pretensioners. The circuit boards of the airbag control module for the supplemental restraint system will need to be checked in the Corolla and Matrix car models.
As reported by Reuters, included in the recall are 141,000 vehicles in Canada and thousands of Japan and Mexico. The Lexus IS sedans manufactured between the years of 2006 to 2012 is named in the second recall. A loose nut on the front wires needs to be checked on an estimated 270,000 of these models in the U.S and 17,000 in Canada. Also affected are Lexus IS vehicles sold in China, Europe and the Middle East. Toyota said that the wipers may fail under heavy pressure such as the buildup of snow. "If movement of the wipers is restricted by an external load, such as a buildup of heavy snow on the windshield, one or both of the wipers could become inoperative," said Toyota, in a statement.
Toyota has confirmed 18 cases of abrasion injuries in the U.S. have been reported in relation the airbag issue, according to Toyota spokesman Naoto Fuse on Wednesday. Fuse also said that two crashes were also reported, also related to the air bags, but Toyota has been unable to confirmed if anyone was injured in these crashes. Toyota received a total of 46 faulty air bag reports in North America and just one report from Japan. 25 reports in total were received relating to the windshield wipers.
The Japanese automaker last month settled lawsuits in the U.S., totaling over $1billion dollars. Toyota owners noted that the millions of vehicles that had to be recalled in 2010 resulted in significant depreciation value of their cars and SUVs.Toyota will issue letters to all owners of the models affected by the recall, directing them to have the repairs done by bringing their cars into dealers. Owners may also enter in their VIN numbers to check if their vehicle is affected by the recall. Another alternative is to contact Toyota at 1-800-331-4331 or Lexus at 1-800-255-3987.
