Toyota is recalling certain models of the 2008 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid passenger vehicles equipped with a third row seat. These vehicles fail to conform to the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard NO. 208, “Occupant Crash protection”. The non driver designated seating positions (DSP) on these vehicles is equipped with seat belt assemblies that have a feature that converts the retractor from a emergency locking retractor (ELR) to a automatic locking retractor (ALR). The belts covert to the ALR mode after the webbing has been fully withdrawn from the retractor. The system is designed so that as the belt is released into the retactor, the system remains in the ALR mode so that a child restraint system (CRS) can be tightly secured.

However, for the two third row DSP’s on these vehicles, the ALR mode deactivates before the webbing is fully retracted, so that it will not lock when certain rear facing CRS’S that have a short seat belt routing path are installed in the vehicle. This can allow the seat belt webbing to spool out during normal driving maneuvers, which could affect the stability of a child restraint installed at thos seating positions. As such, this could discourage the use of a child restraint and in the event of a crash, the child may not be adequately protected possibly resulting in injury.

Dealers will install a newly designed seat belt component free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided an owner notification schedule for this campaign. owners may contact Toyota at 1-800-331-4331.

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Toyota Motor Corporation announced that they will be recalling certain models of the 2007 Toyota Tundra. They stated that on certain 4 wheel drive pickup trucks, due to the improper heat treatment of the slip yokes that had been reworked during the manufacturing process, the hardness of the slip yoke may be insufficient.

In this condition, there is a possibility that the yoke may break causing the propeller shaft to seperate at the joint and come into contact with the road surface or the fuel tank which could result in a loss of vehicle control or a fuel leak.

Dealers will inspect the slip yoke and replace the propeller shaft if necessary free of charge. The recall is expected to begin during January 2008. Owners may contact Toyota at 1-800-331-4331.

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Japanese auto major Toyota is recalling about 20,000 units of its multi-utility vehicle, the Innova, in India to repair a defective part that can lead to oil leakage. “The problem we have found is in the differential carrier mounting nuts, which becomes loose, and on long usage can lead to oil leakage. It has been detected in about 20,000 Innovas,” Toyota Kirloskar Motor deputy managing director K.K. Swamy said. He said the Innovas manufactured between April and October 2007 have been recalled to repair the faulty parts.

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Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling 15,600 new Tundra large pickups because a rear driveshaft can separate and cause the wheels to stop turning, a setback in the company’s challenge to U.S. rivals’ dominance in such trucks.
The recall covers four-wheel drive versions of the 2007 Tundra, Toyota said Friday. There has been one occurrence of the problem, with no accidents or injuries, the company said.

The flaw follows an earlier announcement by Toyota that it would replace V8 engines in 20 of the 2007 trucks because of defective camshafts. The revamped Tundra also failed to win top safety scores for all model types in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tests.
Friday’s recall is “small in terms of numbers, but when you look at the number of incidents Toyota has had on the Tundra, it begins to add up,” said Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor. “Pickups are a different breed of animal. Toyota is still on a learning curve.”

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The corporate culture that has charged Toyota’s ascendance in the automotive world isn’t without its pitfalls. Pride in quality products has driven the automaker for decades and the recent spate of issues with the Tundra – from snapping camshafts, cracking tailgates and faulty torque converters – is making Toyota executives realize that exponential growth is not without its pains.

Speaking with Automotive News at the Tokyo Motor Show, ToMoCo’s global manufacturing exec admitted that problems with the automaker’s full-size pickup have caused “shame” within the company. Takeshi Uchiyamada cited the rapid expansion of Toyota’s production facilities, increased sales and issues with new products as being the major dilemmas facing the automaker, but that all these problems are being addressed. Recognizing the issue is half the battle, but time will tell whether or not Toyota’s break-neck pace will continue to hamper the Japanese firm’s growth.

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Toyota Motor Co. said Tuesday it would cover the costs of repairing doors on up to 600,000 Sienna minivans, after learning from consumers that a part can fail, causing doors to shut unexpectedly.

It’s not a factory recall for the vehicles, made from 2004 through 2006, but the owners will receive a letter from Toyota explaining the problem and offering to take care of it at the company’s expense.

The letters will be mailed Nov. 2, Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong told the Journal Sentinel.

In Wauwatosa, Tom Osman spent about six months trying to get Toyota, or his local dealership, to pay for the failed door mechanism on his 2005 Sienna.

At best, it was going to cover only 75% of the $2,000 repair bill, Osman said, leaving him to pay the $500 difference.

That was just for one door, on the driver’s side, which must be replaced because the “door check mounting panel” failed.

“It’s probably a matter of time before the passenger door fails too,” Osman said.

The problem is with the front doors on the driver’s and passenger’s sides, rather than the van’s sliding doors. When the door is open, it’s supposed to be held in place by the door check mounting panel. When the part fails, the door swings freely.

With two children, ages 4 and 7, Osman said he worries that one of the doors will close on their hands while they’re getting out of the vehicle.

Osman was angry that until Tuesday Toyota said it would not cover the full repair costs, because his van had 40,000 miles on the odometer and was out of warranty, even though it was less than three years old.

“This was a factory defect. It should have nothing to do with the warranty,” Osman said.

Toyota had been handling the out-of-warranty complaints on a “case by case” basis, said Mary Doherty, customer relations manager at Wilde Toyota, in West Allis. Osman bought the vehicle used from Wilde.

If the vehicles were under Toyota’s three-year, 36,000-mile warranty, the repairs were fully covered, she said.

It’s difficult to say whether the Sienna door problem is widespread, partly because it might not surface for years on some vehicles.

But Toyota now says it will pay for the repairs on Siennas up to five years old with 100,000 or fewer miles on them.

“We are calling it a warranty enhancement,” rather than a factory recall, Kwong said.

The defect was caused by bad spot welds. Siennas are built at the company’s factory in Princeton, Ind. Toyota doesn’t consider the defect a safety issue, although a door that closes unexpectedly could be hazardous to small children.

“Most of the time, people are just annoyed by a ‘popping noise’ they hear” when the welds are weak, Kwong said.

The faulty part is the latest in a string of problems that have raised doubts about whether Toyota can maintain quality standards amid booming sales.

Last week, Consumer Reports said Toyota had fallen so far in its annual vehicle reliability survey that it could no longer automatically recommend the company’s new cars and trucks to readers.

Toyota slid from first place last year to fifth place in Consumer Reports’ 2007 rankings. Honda replaced Toyota in the No. 1 spot.

In 2005, Toyota had 12 recalls totaling more than 2 million vehicles. One of those involved nearly a million vehicles built as far back as 1989. A recall of more than 768,000 involved trucks and sport utility vehicles no older than three years.

Toyota hasn’t issued a factory recall for the Sienna door problem, perhaps because such notices generate a lot of negative publicity, said Joe Wiesenfelder with Cars.com, a Web site for car enthusiasts.

“It’s probably on the cusp of being a recall, but maybe not,” he said.

Still, Toyota is probably more sensitive to Sienna owners’ complaints now, given the Consumer Reports rankings, according to Wiesenfelder.

“Anyone who pays the kind of money we’re talking about here, especially with a company of Toyota’s reputation, is justified in feeling outraged,” he said.

Toyota is offering to reimburse consumers who have already paid up to several thousand dollars to have their Sienna doors fixed.

If the bad welds are broken or cracked, the entire door assembly has to be replaced at a cost of several thousand dollars.

“You don’t have to be the vehicle’s original owner. Anyone can bring the car in and it will be fixed,” Kwong said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received a few complaints about the problem. Earlier this year, Toyota issued a service bulletin to its dealerships advising them of the necessary repairs.

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