Toyota Truck Recall: Tacoma, 4Runner, Tundra, and SequoiaWritten by Anna Henningsgaard
A wide scale recall is last resort for a car company to take with a problematic vehicle, and most automotive problems do not even make it to recall stage. Toyota has been known to avoid issuing recalls at all cost, preferring to issue safety warnings and avoid covering repair costs on vehicles that are beyond warranty. This should put this year’s massive Toyota truck recall into perspective.This May, Toyota Motor Corp issued one of its largest safety recalls in history. Toyota is recalling more than 750,000 pickup trucks and SUV’s because of problems with front suspension that could make vehicles difficult to steer. The recall covers 775,000 vehicles in United States alone, including 2001-2004 model years of Toyota Tacoma, 2001-2002 models of Toyota 4Runner and 2002-2004 model Tundra and Sequoia. During manufacturing of these vehicles, surface of front suspension ball joint was scratched. Wear and tear on this ball joint creates friction that makes vehicles difficult to control. At speeds as low as 20 mph, Toyota drivers have reported ball joints collapsing, causing front wheels to fold under truck. Overall, Toyota admits to conducting five recalls this year in United States affecting nearly 1 million vehicles. In 2004, Toyota conducted nine recalls affecting 1,060,000 vehicles, according to NHTSA. This year, Toyota has also recalled:
| | Toyota Recall Lawyer: Toyota Tacoma Recalled 3 Times in 4 Years!Written by Anna Henningsgaard
As recently as July 15, 2005 Toyota announced a recall in their Tacoma series of trucks. This most recent recall addresses a manufacturing flaw in front suspension lower ball joint. Many of these ball joints were scratched during manufacturing, which will cause wear and looseness, making it difficult to steer trucks. In extreme cases, lower ball joint may separate from knuckle, causing Toyota truck or SUV to veer out of control. If a driver loses control of his truck on a road or highway, a crash is almost inevitable. Toyota will pay for dealers to replace these defective joints. This is just most recent in a long line of recalls involving Toyota Tacomas and other Toyota trucks and SUV’s.In February of 2005, Toyota announced that a recall of at least 22,228 Toyota Tacoma trucks equipped with automatic transmission. The parking brake pedal cable on these vehicles was not secured tightly enough, causing it to loosen and come off. Toyota declares that this defect will “reduce effectiveness of parking brake”, but what they mean is that parking brake will stop working. If transmission is not placed into park or should car start to slide down a hill, parking brake will be ineffective and vehicle will roll freely down hill. Though recall was announced in February, owners cannot do anything until March, when Toyota will allow them to take vehicles in for inspection. If you own a Toyota Tacoma with automatic transmission, remember not to leave your child in back seat while car is parked, at least until you have parking break checked out.
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