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Toyota recalling 670k Prius models in US, 2.77 million vehicles worldwide [UPDATE]

Zach Bowman — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 08:59:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Government/Legal, Recalls, Safety, Hatchback, Toyota

Automotive News reports Toyota is recalling a total of 2.77 million vehicles worldwide for faulty water pumps and steering system issues. A total of 670,000 of those are 2004-2009 Prius hybrids sold in the US. Those vehicles are headed back to the dealer, where technicians will inspect the intermediate shaft in the steering column for deformed splines and replace the shaft if necessary. Around 350,000 of those same models will also be inspected for a faulty electric water pump. In some cases, the motor driving the pump could stop, causing the electric motor to overheat and stop functioning while being driven.

Toyota has not received any reports of accidents as a result of either problem, and says the inspections and replacement work should be completed in around one hour.

The recalls also affect 496,000 vehicles in Europe and a further 1.5 million in Japan. All told, the steering shaft recall covers 10 models worldwide, including the Corolla and Wish models manufactured in Japan between 2000 and 2009. Five models are affected by the water pump recall, though we're still waiting for confirmation from Toyota as to which they are. You can read the full Toyota press release below, covering the US-spec Prius issues, for more information.

UPDATE: We've heard back from Toyota about the two recall issues reported on this morning, and have a bit of clarification on the models in question, worldwide, now.

Prius is the only model affected by the water pump issue. As we indicated earlier, the faulty water pump could cause the electric motor to shut down, which then causes the ECU to shut down the gasoline engine, as well.

The other nine models affected by the steering shaft issue (which is unrelated to the water pump issue) are mostly Japanese Domestic Market vehicles: Allex, Avensis, Corolla, Corolla Feilder, Corolla Run X, Corolla Spacio, Isis, WiLL VS and Wish.

We also have a breakdown of the number of vehicles affected by both recalls, by world market. 670k in the US, 1.5 million in Japan, 15k in Canada, 496k in Europe, 3,800 in China, 35k in Oceania, 1,500 in the Middle East and a total of 12,600 in "other" regions.

Continue reading Toyota recalling 670k Prius models in US, 2.77 million vehicles worldwide [UPDATE]

Toyota recalling 670k Prius models in US, 2.77 million vehicles worldwide [UPDATE] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 14 Nov 2012 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota recalls 52,000 Prius hybrids for steering defect

Zach Bowman — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Japan, Recalls, Toyota

Toyota is recalling 106,000 Prius models built between 2001 and 2003. A total of 52,000 of those units were sold in the States.

Toyota says that if the steering wheel is strongly turned to the full lock position over and over again, the electric power steering pinion shaft nuts may become loose. Over time, that may result in the driver having to exert more force than typically necessary to turn left.

Owners can expect to be notified of the recall in early July, and the repair (in which dealers will replace the electric power steering pinion shaft nuts with new equipment) is expected to take around four hours.

In addition, the Japanese automaker is recalling a handful of Venza and Sienna all-wheel drive models for improperly heat-treated front drive shafts. The recall covers a total of 34 Venza models and 16 Sienna units produced in 2011, and owners can expect to be notified of the problem by June of this year. Hit the jump for the full press blast.

Continue reading Toyota recalls 52,000 Prius hybrids for steering defect

Toyota recalls 52,000 Prius hybrids for steering defect originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Toyota warned dealers with floormat TSB back in 2007

Eric Loveday — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:55:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Recalls, Safety, Toyota

Toyota announced an all out recall of both floor mats and accelerator pedals beginning in late 2009, but the issue was clearly known by the company years prior. Recent reports indicated that the automaker was well aware of floor mat-related issues dating back to early 2007. Not only was the company aware of the issue, it responded by posting a technical service bulletin (TSB).

Back in March of 2007, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into pedal entrapment on the Lexus ES350. Within two weeks, Toyota issued a TSB to dealers regarding possible pedal entrapment caused by floor mats. Later that year, Toyota warned dealers of the same possible risk on all Toyota models and instructed dealerships not to install optional floor mats. A portion of the TSB is posted below:

NEVER install more than one floormat at a time in the driver's seating position... If applicable, any secondary set of floormats MUST be placed in the trunk with all the packaging material intact. DO NOT install the secondary mat on top of the primary floormat already in the driver's seating position.

In September of 2007, Toyota voluntarily recalled 55,000 floormats from Lexus and Toyota vehicles, but stated that no known problem had been found with the mats or vehicles. NHTSA closed the investigation, but the problems didn't end. Toyota continued to send TSBs for 2008 and 2009 model year vehicles to remind dealers of potential pedal entrapment problems.

The TSBs are clear proof that Toyota was aware of the potential problem and it shows they acted in a way consistent with other automakers by addressing the problem at the dealership level. The mistakes the company made include admitting that the floor mats were not part of the problem and then doing nothing else to discover and fix the real problem.

Tired of Toyota recall news? Try out the recall-free version of Autoblog.

[Source: Reuters]

Report: Toyota warned dealers with floormat TSB back in 2007 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Toyota begins investigating '10 Prius cruise control complaints

Steven J. Ewing — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:31:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Recalls, Safety, Hatchback, Toyota

2010 Toyota Prius - Click above for high-res image gallery

Last month, Toyota recalled 133,000 2010 Prius models due to a braking issue that could cause a momentary loss of stopping power. However, in many of the claims filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the vehicle's cruise control was brought into question, with drivers stating that they had difficulty getting the system to turn off when the brake pedal was depressed. According to Ward's Auto, 11 percent of all 2010 Prius complaints filed with NHTSA cite this issue.

Toyota is now starting to look deeper into these complaints, and believes that the majority of them are the result of driver confusion over the Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC), which is an option on the top-rung Prius V trim. In talking with Ward's, Toyota spokesperson Dave Lee says that drivers are confusing the Prius' adaptive cruise control for unintended acceleration. Lee states that when drivers use the cruise stalk to adjust vehicle speed, the rate of acceleration is much higher than when the gas pedal is pressed - it takes about one second to increase the car's speed by five miles per hour by just holding the stalk up.

What's more, reports show that drivers tend to overestimate the adaptive cruise control's effectiveness for preventing collisions, such as instances where a vehicle is stopped in the lane ahead, and that the car's owners manual typically states that both laser- and radar-based adaptive cruise systems have trouble detecting vehicles ahead of the car on curves. Two NHTSA complaints reported colliding with stationary objects when the adaptive cruise system was enabled.

Ward's says that it is unclear how many of 2010 Priuses are equipped with DRCC. Even so, the top-end V trim only makes up about eight percent of total Prius sales, so Toyota will continue to investigate these complaints before making a plan of action.

Gallery: 2010 Toyota Prius

[Source: Ward's Auto]

Report: Toyota begins investigating '10 Prius cruise control complaints originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Toyota continues to work on floormat fix for 2004-09 Prius

Damon Lavrinc — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:57:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Recalls, Safety, Hatchback, Toyota

In the wake of yesterday's "runaway Prius" in San Diego, Toyota says it's still working on a fix for the thousands of hybrids included in the 4.36 million vehicles recalled last November. The source of the unintended acceleration on these affected Prius models is the same as the other vehicles involved in the recall: A floor mat that gets jammed up against the throttle. Unfortunately for Toyota, the owner of yesterday's "runaway Prius" claims the floormat wasn't his car's problem.

Regardless, Toyota says that new, smaller pedals and redesigned floor mats are in the works for these vehicles, but modifications haven't begun because the automaker is still working on a more specific solution. Yeah, we're a bit confused as well.

Contrary to a report by the Wall Street Journal, a new recall isn't in the cards for the last-gen Prius and Toyota spokesperson Brian Lyons told The Detroit News that while he can't disclose exactly when this floormat fix will happen for affected Prius models or how the correction will be implemented, the changes will take place "sometime this year." Here's hoping it's sooner rather than later.

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[Sources: Detroit News, Wall Street Journal - Sub. Req.]

Report: Toyota continues to work on floormat fix for 2004-09 Prius originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Officially Official: Toyota recalls 2010 Prius and Lexus HS250h for ABS fix

Sam Abuelsamid — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:01:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Safety, Lexus, Toyota

2010 Toyota Prius - Click above for high-res image gallery

In what is perhaps our least surprising announcement of the young day, Toyota has officially announced that it will recall 2010 model Prius and Lexus HS250h models globally along with the Toyota Sai in Japan to fix an issue the performance of their braking systems. The latest in a series of safety related problems with Toyotas became public fodder last week when Toyota acknowledged that customers of the third generation hybrid had complained of a loss of stopping power at low speeds.

Toyota has also acknowledged that it has developed a software update to improve the blending of the regenerative and
friction braking systems and implemented the update into new production models sometime in January. The automaker did not, however, order a recall of vehicles in customer hands until more than a week after reports of the issue turned up in the media.

The Prius, Prius PHEV, HS250h and Sai (a Toyota badged version of the Prius sold only in Japan) are all being recalled for the software bug fix. In total about 400,000 vehicles are involved in this recall. First- and second-generation Priuses are not included since they have a different braking system, although there are concerns that there could be performance issues with those vehicles, too.

In the same release, Toyota has also announced that it will recall about 7,300 2010 model Camry sedans to inspect a power steering hose that may sit to close to a brake hose and cause it to wear through. Official press release after the jump.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Toyota Prius

[Source: Toyota]

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Continue reading Officially Official: Toyota recalls 2010 Prius and Lexus HS250h for ABS fix

Officially Official: Toyota recalls 2010 Prius and Lexus HS250h for ABS fix originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Toyota to extend recall run to Prius and Lexus HS over braking issue

Sebastian Blanco — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:26:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Sedan, Recalls, Safety, Hatchback, Lexus, Toyota

2010 Toyota Prius - Click above for high-res image gallery

While Toyota still hasn't officially recalled the Prius, they have admitted the world's most popular hybrid has potential brake problems. The company is now also looking into whether the Prius' country club cousin, the Lexus HS250 hybrid, and the Japan-only Sai hybrid, which is based on the HS, might also need their brakes fixed. As of yet, nothing has been decided, but we expect more news soon.

It's also being reported by the Japanese media and The New York Times that Toyota will issue a global recall for the Prius early this week, and Automotive News reports that the car's brake problems will be fixed with a software update to the anti-lock braking system. With news of the Prius' brake problems spreading, reports of problems are increasing dramatically. While there were just over 100 complaints lodged with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as of last week, there are now over 800, a good sign that Toyota needs to do something, and soon.

Gallery: 2010 Toyota Prius

[Sources: New York Times, Automotive News - Sub. Req'd]

Report: Toyota to extend recall run to Prius and Lexus HS over braking issue originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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