Toyota has recently recalled about 280,000 vehicles in the US, due to a transmission issue which could possibly raise the risk of crashes.
ADVERTISEMENTToyota recently issued a recall for about 280,000 vehicles in the US. This was primarily due to a transmission issue which could potentially cause cars to keep moving forwards even when in neutral.
The move mainly concerns 2023 and 2024 Toyota Sequoia SUVs, as well as certain Lexus LX 600 SUVs and Toyota Tundra pickups. The owners of the vehicles involved will receive notification of the recall by the end of April this year.
According to the company, some parts of the transmission in these models are not instantly disengaging when the vehicles go into neutral gear. This means that engine power keeps going to the wheels and the vehicle may keep inching forward on flat surfaces, albeit at low speeds.
In some cases, this may increase the chance of a crash, especially if some vehicles hit other parked cars in front of them.
Lexus and Toyota dealers have revealed that they will be updating the transmission software at no extra cost to vehicle owners to rectify the issue.
Could Europe see recalls as well?
As of now, it is unclear if Europe could also face recalls from the company. However, if this issue is also discovered in European Toyota models, a callback cannot be ruled out completely.
However, back in January 2010, about 1.8 million European Toyota vehicles had been recalled due to a possible faulty accelerator pedal. This impacted mainly 8 models. Some of these were November 2008 -November 2009 iQ models, November 2005 -September 2009 Yaris models and February 2005 - August 2009 AYGO vehicles.
At the time, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe Tadashi Arashima said in a statement: "Toyota's policy is to put its customers first, in all circumstances. We understand that the current situation is creating concerns, and we deeply regret it.
"We would also like to reassure customers: the potential accelerator pedal issue only occurs in very rare circumstances. The recall action is a precautionary measure aimed to guarantee the highest quality standards to all customers.
"At Toyota, we are fully committed to safety, we know what the problem is and how to fix it, so now our focus is to make that fix as quickly as possible. We will make the necessary checks to ensure future customers do not receive an affected vehicle."
Toyota last year recalled around 1.12 million vehicles worldwide because of a potential airbag issue. The problem was with the airbag sensors and the possibility they could not sense when a child or small adult was sitting in the front seat and deploy accordingly, in case of a crash.
Normally, in cases of children or small adults in the front seat, airbags do not deploy.
