Toyota Motor Corp, the world’s largest auto maker, would recall about 1.13 million Corolla and Matrix cars for an engine defect that US regulators said could cause stalling “at any speed without warning”.
Toyota said today in a statement that it would recall the vehicles for the model years 2005 to 2008 in the US and Canada following at least three reported accidents linked to the defect.
The action adds to record recalls in the past year by Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota, including more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for flaws related to unintended acceleration.
“This is another bump in the road while Toyota is trying to recover their reputation,” auto analyst Rebecca Lindland of IHS Automotive in Lexington, Massachusetts, said in an interview. “It will give people who are not Toyota loyalists another reason not to buy the brand.”
Toyota tested 32 of the engine components and found four had cracking after thermal-shocking tests, said John Hanson, a spokesman at the US sales unit in Torrance, California.
“Toyota concluded that this problem would likely continue to occur, and, therefore, in order to address customer concerns, decided to conduct a voluntary safety recall of all vehicles within the affected range,” Chris Santucci, Toyota Motor North America’s manager of technical and regulatory affairs, wrote today in a letter to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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Hanson said he didn’t know what the recall would cost the company. The recall would also affect about 162,000 of General Motors Co’s Pontiac Vibe hatchbacks, which were manufactured in a joint venture with Toyota in California.
“Our goal is to help ensure that Toyota drivers are completely confident in the safety and reliability of their vehicles,” Steve St Angelo, Toyota’s chief qualify officer for North America, said in the statement.
NHTSA on August 18 upgraded its investigation of the defect to an engineering analysis, a step that can lead the agency to demand a recall. The regulator said cracks in engine control units could occur if improperly cured coating was applied to circuit boards.
Olivia Alair, a spokeswoman for the US Transportation Department, which includes NHTSA, confirmed the recall.
The safety regulator has received 163 complaints, including six crashes, about engines stalling in the cars and began investigating in November.
Toyota said it would repair the cars at no cost to owners and would reimburse those who had already had the repair done at their own cost.
Toyota’s American Depository Receipts, each equal to two ordinary shares, fell 34 cents to $68.72 at 4 pm in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
The American Depository Receipts have fallen 18 per cent this year.