Toyota is one of the world’s leading car companies but it also has the distinction of being the leading car recaller in the U.S. Toyota has issued the most car recalls in four of the past five years.
Toyota has issued a major recall of 2012 and 2013 sedans and crossovers last fall. The carmaker says that many of its most popular vehicles are impacted by the recall including the Toyota Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Avalon Hybrid, and Venza.
“In the involved vehicles, water from the air conditioning condenser unit housing could leak onto the airbag control module and cause a short circuit, resulting in illumination of the airbag warning light,” Toyota said in an official news release. “In some instances, the air bags could become disabled or could inadvertently deploy.”
Toyota says that the manufacturing defect has led to at least 35 airbag warning lights turning on and three accidental deployments. The manufacturer has characterized the injuries that consumers suffered as “minor” and it is unclear what type of lawsuits, if any, have been filed in connection with this airbag problem.
The recall recently made national news due to an unusual element – spiders. Toyota says that the only consistent issue it found in the cars that it inspected was spider webs which blocked the drainage tube of the air conditioning unit. Spiders may not have caused every blockage, however.
In addition to the airbag problems, Toyota also reported possible steering issues in its cards.
“In limited instances, the power steering assist function could also become inoperable if a communication line in the airbag control module is damaged,” the manufacturer said. “Loss of power steering assist results in increased steering effort.”
Toyota also issued a recall of 400,000 cars in Saudi Arabia recently due to reports of unintended acceleration. The U.S. was the first country to have a Toyota recall forf the same problem.
The Dolan Law Firm handles product liability cases in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area. If you or a loved one has been injured in a traffic accident caused by a car defect, call us at 888-452-4752.
