Toyota to recall 7.4 million cars

TestTransmission

Best built cars in the world?

Toyota is voluntarily recalling more than seven million vehicles worldwide, including some Yaris, Corolla and Camry models, over faulty window switches.

It affects 1.39 million cars in Europe - 138,000 in the UK - 2.47 million in the US and 1.4 million in China.

It is the biggest single recall since Ford called back eight million vehicles in 1996.

Toyota said there had been no reports of accidents, injuries or deaths as a result of the window problem.

Source

Leonard Hofstadter

Won't affect their sales in Ireland one bit, people have been totally brainwashed into thinking that Toyotas are "great" cars:eek:.

In fairness, at least Toyota are prepared to acknowledge their faults and fix them, other manufacturers (the Germans in particular) will only bother fixing stuff if you shout loudly enough. Timing chain and swirl flaps failures etc because of poor design are all things that *should* result in recalls (especially given the cost of repairing these things should they go wrong), but don't.

I guarantee if this was a BMW or a Merc or anything from the Volkswagen Group the incident would be denied but the parts would still be changed from a certain production date onwards as though nothing had happened.

Nissan doctor

I don't think that this questions their claim of the best built cars in the world.

Toyota seem to be one of the very few manufacturers who, when they find the possibility of a problem, publicly recall and rectify the problem which in my view gives them more respect then most other manufacturers(especially certain premium brands) who have to be forced into recalls or who flatly refuse to acknowledged the existence of a problem at all.

mike65

About 37,000 cars effected here.

ShadowHearth

mike65 wrote: »

About 37,000 cars effected here.

36.900 of them yaris :pac:

mike65

Only 135,000 or so in the UK which must tell us something about the nature of the respective markets.

CianRyan

Window switches, that's minor and they're fixing it free of charge.
BMW ignore their major engine issues and hope they go away, people will walk over hot coal and broken glass to get that badge.

I'll go ahead and say I'd have more faith in Toyota. This is definitely not something to slag/give put about them ever.

The media love reporting on Toyota recalls, numpties love reading about them

The Worlds largest medical device and pharma manufacturers pay Toyota big bucks to visit their sites and have a look see at how Toyota do things.

Many companies could take a leaf out of Toyota's honesty of approach when dealing with issues.

Tea 1000

RoverJames wrote: »

The media love reporting on Toyota recalls, numpties love reading about them

The Worlds largest medical device and pharma manufacturers pay Toyota big bucks to visit their sites and have a look see at how Toyota do things.

Many companies could take a leaf out of Toyota's honesty of approach when dealing with issues.

Damn straight. VW ignored the serious suspension failure on the early Passats and A4's, which almost killed a relation of mine only for he was going slow. Happened most of them.
Toyota seem to be happy to recall most problems that they find. Window switch is a tiny thing.

dar83

CianRyan wrote: »

...This is definitely not something to slag/give put about them ever.

Definitely not.

The last 10 years up until the GT86 on the other hand...

:P

Cuddlesworth

Toyota issue a recall due to a fault with their windows, to be fixed free of charge as its a manufacturing and design fault.

BMW issue a press statement saying that at least their cars since 2011 can't be stolen in under 30 seconds by anybody with a ebay account and 30 quid.

And Toyota are the bad guys?

Tea 1000

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Toyota issue a recall due to a fault with their windows, to be fixed free of charge as its a manufacturing and design fault.

BMW issue a press statement saying that at least their cars since 2011 can't be stolen in under 30 seconds by anybody with a ebay account and 30 quid.

And Toyota are the bad guys?

Remember, it's not the job of the media to sell the truth, it's their job to sell papers.

_Kaiser_

As already said, fair play to Toyota issuing a recall over a relatively minor fault where other more "respected"/"premium" manufacturers will do everything they can to avoid fixing even potentially dangerous/lethal flaws.

Take the injector fault problem in 2005-2008 2.0 TDI engines in VAG cars. Even though the UK relented last year and issued the recall, it still took several more months before VW IRL did likewise.

Whatever about Toyota's being "the best built cars in the world", their customer service in issues like this is certainly world class.

H3llR4iser

As much as I have no liking whatsoever for Toyota's cars, their handling of such problems is exemplary. Changes nothing, I am never gonna get a Toyota for the foreseeable future, but it's still a lesson about how to handle the unavoidable production issue. Some "premium" brands should definitely learn a thing or two.

Besides, Toyota's dominance of the Irish market looks to me as another subtle sign of the Americanization this country is slowly undergoing...

CianRyan

H3llR4iser wrote: »

As much as I have no liking whatsoever for Toyota's cars, their handling of such problems is exemplary. Changes nothing, I am never gonna get a Toyota for the foreseeable future, but it's still a lesson about how to handle the unavoidable production issue. Some "premium" brands should definitely learn a thing or two.

Besides, Toyota's dominance of the Irish market looks to me as another subtle sign of the Americanization this country is slowly undergoing...

If we get their fuel prices then I'm all for it!

bazz26

Think about it, this recall is actually a great PR move by Toyota. It sends a message out to customers that even if their warranty has expired they will still deal with a defect.

Other manufacturers should take note.

mickdw

bazz26 wrote: »

Think about it, this recall is actually a great PR move by Toyota. It sends a message out to customers that even if their warranty has expired they will still deal with a defect.

Other manufacturers should take note.

Should be great additional footfall for the dealers too. How many will get services carried when there? How many will get talked into a new car?

George Dalton

Toyota are a very clever company. They issue a recall over a non issue like this, which gives them loads of free publicity and "good karma" from people. Yet if you think about it this recall will likely end up making them money rather than costing them anything.

On the flip side they are very good at hushing things up when it comes to a more significant or costly fault. I would say half the 1.6vvti Avensis models sold here in the early to mid 2000's had replacement engines (or short motors) fitted by the dealers FOC and in a lot of cases the owners of the cars didn't even know what exactly was being done. Similar stuff going on now with head gasket failure on diesel Avensis models where they are replacing engines on the QT on a case by case basis.

peasant

The one thing you don't hear about here is that it's not just a "faulty" switch ...but a switch that can get stuck, get hot and eventually set your car on fire

unkel

Toyota honest about recalls? You all have to be joking me. Nobody remember the speedo issues Toyota knew about for years but tried to hide?

Linky

Evidence had been mounting for years that Toyota cars could speed up suddenly. Toyota had blamed the problem on floor mats pinning the gas pedal. Now, the two Toyota men revealed they knew of a problem in its gas pedals.

The heart of Toyota's problem: Its secretive corporate culture in Japan clashed with U.S. requirements that auto makers disclose safety threats

galwaytt

George Dalton wrote: »

Toyota are a very clever company. They issue a recall over a non issue like this, which gives them loads of free publicity and "good karma" from people. Yet if you think about it this recall will likely end up making them money rather than costing them anything.

On the flip side they are very good at hushing things up when it comes to a more significant or costly fault. I would say half the 1.6vvti Avensis models sold here in the early to mid 2000's had replacement engines (or short motors) fitted by the dealers FOC and in a lot of cases the owners of the cars didn't even know what exactly was being done. Similar stuff going on now with head gasket failure on diesel Avensis models where they are replacing engines on the QT on a case by case basis.

But if they were changing my engine foc I'd be delighted. Contrast that with Mazda's denials on their RF series TD engines.....there's a lot more Avensis still running now, and sweet FA Mazda 6 diesels....

maidhc

George Dalton wrote: »

Toyota are a very clever company. They issue a recall over a non issue like this, which gives them loads of free publicity and "good karma" from people. Yet if you think about it this recall will likely end up making them money rather than costing them anything.

On the flip side they are very good at hushing things up when it comes to a more significant or costly fault. I would say half the 1.6vvti Avensis models sold here in the early to mid 2000's had replacement engines (or short motors) fitted by the dealers FOC and in a lot of cases the owners of the cars didn't even know what exactly was being done. Similar stuff going on now with head gasket failure on diesel Avensis models where they are replacing engines on the QT on a case by case basis.

From a legal point of view there is a big difference between a fault which causes a car not to go as opposed to casuing a fire/safety concern, even if one is trivial and the other is catastrophic.

That said I agree, Toyota have had their issues with the 2.2D4D and VVTi, and they didn't offer free engines for everyone.

Leonard Hofstadter

galwaytt wrote: »

But if they were changing my engine foc I'd be delighted. Contrast that with Mazda's denials on their RF series TD engines.....there's a lot more Avensis still running now, and sweet FA Mazda 6 diesels....

I agree. That's what BMW should be doing with all those four and six cylinder diesel engines that have the timing chain problem due to faulty manufacturing on their part, especially as it costs over €6,000 to replace, instead of pretending that the problem doesn't exist and changing the parts used in the engines anyway from a particular build date, or saying that 'at least if you own a BMW from 2011 onwards your car won't be able to be stolen in 30 seconds'.

Mazda should have done the same with their in house diesel disaster.

Good publicity or not, all these recalls must be costing them a fortune.

It's no wonder Toyota have such a strong market share here, despite the fact that their cars are dire, their after sales service is by far and away the best of any manufacturer in the country. If other manufacturers are to have any hope of increasing their market share here, they could do far worse than to take note of how Toyota handle even minor faults with their cars. You can be sure that BMW or VW would not be recalling any car over a sticky window switch.

Turbulent Bill

captainspeed wrote: »

If other manufacturers are to have any hope of increasing their market share here, they could do far worse than to take note of how Toyota handle even minor faults with their cars. You can be sure that BMW or VW would not be recalling any car over a sticky window switch.

I think there's a perception issue too, i.e., 'premium' brands don't issue recalls, ergo their products must be better than 'cheaper' manufacturers. Most people are unaware of the actual problems cars have unless they're mentioned in the media, or they're the poor unfortunates stuck with a lemon.

I applaud Toyota for the recall, whatever the reasons behind it. At the end of the day, their cars will be fixed.