Toyota's name has taken a hit these past few years due to several recalls from brakes to floor mats, but most rececntly it took the title as number one in sales again over GM. However, yesterday Toyota announced a U.S. recall of 1 million vehicles.
Of the 1 million 752,000 are Corollas or Corolla Matrixes that were manufactured from December 2001 to May 2004. These vehicles are being recalled due to faulty airbags. Defective circuit boards that trigger the airbags could cause “a short, causing a buildup of heat or potentially causing the air bags or seat belt pretensioners to deploy when there hasn't been a crash,” (Toyota recalls 1 million Corollas, Lexus sedans, Chris Woodyard, USA Today,
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/01/30/toyota-recall-corolla-lexus-is/1876449/).
The second recall includes roughly 270,000 Lexus IS sedans produced from 2006 to 2012 for lose nuts on wiper blades that could cause them to fail if under substantial pressure.
Two crashes have been linked to the flawed airbags, but Toyota has not been able to confirm them. There have been 18 cases of abrasion injuries from the airbags, reports Toyota spokesman Naoto Fuse. (Toyota recalls 1 million Corollas, Lexus sedans, Chris Woodyard, USA Today).
Beyond the U.S. there have been thousands of vehicles recalled in Japan, Mexico and Canada.
Letters are being sent to owners of vehicles that are affected by the recall. Owners may also contact Toyota at
1-800-331-4331.
For more information on both recalls visit