Toyota to spend millions on Tundra recall
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has ruled that Toyota must recall nearly 160,000 Tundra pickups built between 2003 and 2005 in order to deactivate the front-seat passenger air bag cut-off switch in each truck. The Tundras fail to meet an NHTSA regulation that requires vehicles equipped with air bag cut-off switches to also have LATCH (lower anchorages and tethers for children) systems. Deactivating the cut-off switches was deemed less expensive than retrofitting the Tundras with the LATCH system.
Toyota had petitioned the NHTSA to waive the regulation in this case, but on June 28th the administration denied its request. The voluntary recall will begin in September after Toyota engineers the parts necessary to deactivate the cut-off switch. With the switch deactivated, the Tundra's front-seat passenger air bag will always deploy and it will not be safe to place a child seat there from now on. 2006 model year Tundras come with their air bag cut-off switches deactivated from the factory.
While we don't know what the cost of the parts used in the recall will be, there will be two hours of labor per vehicle involved. At $100 per hour, a figure quoted by The Detroit News, the recall will cost Toyota at least $16 million.
[Source: The Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Gardiner Westbound 10:19AM (7/10/2006)
This is a lame decision. Effectively a baby cannot be transported in 2003 to 2005 Toyota Tundra regular and access cab models. It is not fair to good faith purchasers who anticipated the front-seat passenger air bag cut-off switch would be functional.
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Mike 10:20AM (7/10/2006)
I know that the sensational part of this story is that Toyota will spend $16 million on this recall, but I'd imagine that no more than 1/2 of the truck owners ever come have this done.
If you are single, or don't have kids, or don't have kids living with you anymore, it seems that the switch is way more valuable than the LATCH system.
I suspect the actual number of people who bring the truck back in to have this done is less than 25%. Seems the purchaser knew in advance that there wasnt a LATCH system on the truck - be they original buyer or used.
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Gary 10:21AM (7/10/2006)
So, then someone who places a kid in an old-style car seat in front will now now have him in greater danger of injury. Yeah, the ideal is the back, but sometimes the ideal isn't possible.
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Sgt. Hulka 10:24AM (7/10/2006)
"Nothing to see here."
"Move along."
"This is none of your concern."
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Mal Fuller 10:26AM (7/10/2006)
You're right, Gardener. But Tundra owners who've been affected by this should direct their anger at Toyota since it's they who did not comply and, when they got caught, also elected not to put in the LATCH anchors that would have brought the truck into compliance.
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The other Bob 10:26AM (7/10/2006)
Toyota should be forced to install the LATCH system, which is what they were required to do in the first place.
Toyota is being let off easy, allowing them to have a less safe vehicle than their competitors, which rewards them for violating the law.
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djSyndrome 10:36AM (7/10/2006)
Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't see what the big deal is. LATCH anchors are not required by law for light trucks, even those with full rear seats (my father-in-law's 2003 F-250 doesn't have them, nor does it have an airbag-off switch). So the Government's rules say that for this class of vehicle you don't need LATCH or an airbag cutoff switch, but if you want the switch, you have to add LATCH? Completely inane.
(note that I'm not condoning Toyota 'breaking the rules' in this case; I'm calling the rules themselves into question because they are, in a word, stupid)
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Michel de Breyne 10:40AM (7/10/2006)
I agree that this is just a publicity thing and in the end it's just going to cost the car/truck buyers more money. This is just stupid policy that makes vehicles more expensive. As mentioned, there is no way that this will cost Toyota $16 million - First, how many dealers charge $100/hour? Second, even if there are dealerships that charge this, this is the end-user (us) cost, not the dealership/manufacturer cost. Third, there's no way it will take 2 hours to deactivate this. Most importanly, most owners aren't going to care about the recall or have it performed (I wouldn't if I had a truck). Realisticaly, the majority of people with this truck, don't use it for infant/toddlers (which is the only seats that use latch) - if you have a young child with a booster seat, you don't even use the LATCH but you still want to be able to disable the airbag so you won't get the recall done. Even if you do have infant/toddler seats, you can still use them without the LATCH but you still need to be able to disable the airbag so again, why would you get the recall done. If you like to carry stuff or teenagers or small adults on your front, it's nice to be able disable the airbag and you still don't need the LATCH. Bottom line is that IMO all cars should have an airbag disable and this has nothing to do with infant/toddler seats so the two shouldn't be regulated together - that's just insane.
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sp 10:58AM (7/10/2006)
yep,insane... Absolutly.
What they are saying is that if you dont have an latch system, you cant have airbag cutoff system either. Which is ridicilous as they are not related at all.
Plus, most people dont use latch for baby car seats because they are so much more expensive than normal baby car seats.
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sp 10:58AM (7/10/2006)
In fact, ppl definetly should not take their cars to be "fixed".
:-).
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Ken 11:04AM (7/10/2006)
I think I'm missing something here as well? The article says the NHTSA has ruled Toyota MUST recall the truck. Then in the next paragraph, it says Toyota will issue a "voluntary" recall in September. Which is it? Who wrote the article? John Neff? I'm assuming he drives a Toyota and may be a little biased? I thought I was reading a NY Times editorial about a Democrat getting busted for ethics violations.
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Peter 11:13AM (7/10/2006)
The people affected by in reality are a small group: Those who have kids riding in the passenger seat in a car seat. This has no impact on the rest of the population. Besides, most people with kids don't buy regular cab trucks to haul kids around. It's not practical or safe.
-If you are driving around in any car with the baby seat in the front passenger seat, you're stupid for endangering the child.
-If you purchased any car and knew the front seat isn't LATCH compliant but you still want to carry your kid up there, you're twice the fool.
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djSyndrome 11:15AM (7/10/2006)
"Plus, most people dont use latch for baby car seats because they are so much more expensive than normal baby car seats."
You can get decent baby seats with LATCH for not that much money nowdays. Both of our girls have Britax seats which, while not 'cheap', I felt were reasonable for the safety and craftsmanship they provide.
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Sam 11:26AM (7/10/2006)
Let's interpret:
Your Toyota truck is less safe due to not having the LATCH system and will now be even more unsafe for kids because the airbag will kill them.
-OR-
Your Toyota pickup, unless it has a full-sized backseat, is now completely incompatable with carrying children.
My 2001 S-10 extended cab has the LATCH system and a cutoff switch. Guess I made the right purchase.
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Don L 11:27AM (7/10/2006)
#6 - It is now mandatory under FMVSS208 that all production vehicles 2006 and beyond have automatic airbag shutoffs. Some vehicles have been granted deadline extensions for various reasons, but the vast majority now have automatic systems that turn the airbag off it senses the presence of a child or a child seat.
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Rob 11:39AM (7/10/2006)
Sam,
Too bad your S-10 will probably break down in a couple of years, while that Toyota will keep on chuggin'...
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Sam 11:51AM (7/10/2006)
Actually Rob, my S-10 was the highest rated truck in long term dependability the year it was built by more than one survey. Beating everyone, including Toyota. It's over 5 years old and has run great.
It also got the second best gas mileage compared to other small V-6 trucks the year it was built. (second only to a Ranger) Pulled to most load and had other class-leading characteristics.
Don't spit out crap you have no information about just because its easier to assume Toyota makes everything better.
Sam
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KT 11:58AM (7/10/2006)
Substitite Ford or GM where it says Toyota or Japanese automaker in this article and the tone/content of these post would be MUCH different.
"The Japanese automaker is taking the action after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on June 28 rejected Toyota's petition to waive a federal safety regulation that requires most vehicles built after September 2002 and equipped with the cut-off switch to also have a child seat anchor system known as LATCH"
"In its ruling, NHTSA took no position on whether Toyota could comply by simply deactivating the switches.
Kwong said beginning in the 2006 model year, Toyota deactivated its front passenger air bag cut-off switch to satisfy the regulations.
In June 2005, Toyota acknowledged that 156,555 Tundras from the 2003-05 model years didn't comply with the child seat anchor safety regulation.
The automaker asked the NHTSA to waive the regulation and spent more than a year trying to convince the agency it wasn't required to install child-seat anchoring systems."
How about just complying to the regulations and stop whining? How much more would it cost them to do it from the beginning?
I'm amazed how many people are drinking the KoolAid.
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djSyndrome 11:59AM (7/10/2006)
"My 2001 S-10 extended cab has the LATCH system and a cutoff switch. Guess I made the right purchase.
I'm not going to argue dependability of Chevrolet vs. Toyota, but your 2001 S-10 nearly flunked the both Government's and the IIHS' crash tests. I don't care what kinds of anchors and shutoff switches your truck has, if it can't protect the occupants there's not much point extolling them, is there?
http://www.edmunds.com/used/2001/chevrolet/s10/100000624/safety.html
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Atomicbri 12:07PM (7/10/2006)
Once it again it makes me laugh that people who LOVE Toyota soooo much argue that well, this is stupid and a ridiculous recall because if this had been FOrd or GM THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN SLAUGHTERED with comments. People would say, oh there's GM cutting corners, blah blah blah... Well I think Toyota is getting a little too big for their britches and the more products they pump out to meet and exceed sales and capacity of Ford and GM, I predict the more quality issues they will have, just like Ford and GM.
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