Toyota Recalls 1.4 Million Vehicles Due to Defective Air Bags

The world’s leading automakers, Toyota Motors announced that they will be recalling 1.43 million vehicles globally for defective air bags. Toyota Motor Corp. clarified they does not know of any fatalities or injuries related to the latest recall by the auto industry giant.

Toyota Prius

According to Toyota Motor Corp., they did not know of any fatalities or injuries related to the latest recalls. The model which are being recalled by Toyota are Prius hybrid, Prius plug-in and the Lexus CT200h.

The said car units were produced between October 2008 and April 2012. The car company noted that out of the 1.43 million vehicles they were distributed in the following regions: 743,000 vehicles in Japan, 495,000 in North America and 141,000 vehicles in Europe, 9,000 vehicles in China and 46,000 vehicles in other regions.

The Toyota recall was due to the small crack in some inflators in the air bags in the driver and passenger sides may expand, causing the air bags to partially inflate.

Toyota also clarified that the company Takata, one of the world’s leading maker of air bags that supplies air bags to different car manufacturing companies.

According to some auto industry experts, the announcement of Toyota’s recall means that the overall number of recalls because of air bag worries likely now tally more than 100 million globally.

Here’s the Complete Statement from Company:

PLANO, Texas, June 28, 2016 – Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. today announced that it is conducting a safety recall of approximately 482,000 Model Year 2010 – 2012 Prius; 2010 and 2012 Prius Plug-In Hybrids and 2011 and 2012 Lexus CT 200h vehicles. 

The involved vehicles are equipped with curtain shield air bags (CSA) in the driver and passenger side roof rails that have air bag inflators composed of two chambers welded together.  Some inflators could have a small crack in the weld area joining the chambers, which could grow over time, and lead to the separation of the inflator chambers.  This has been observed when the vehicle is parked and unoccupied for a period of time.  If an inflator separates, the CSA could partially inflate, and, in limited circumstances, one or both sections of the inflator could enter the interior of the vehicle.  If an occupant is present in the vehicle, there is an increased risk of injury.

All known owners of the involved vehicles will be notified by first class mail.  Toyota and Lexus dealers will install retention brackets on the curtain shield air bag inflators at no cost.  These retention brackets are designed to prevent the inflator chambers from entering the vehicle interior if separation occurs.

Information about automotive recalls, including but not limited to the list of involved vehicles, is subject to change over time.  For the most up-to-date Safety Recall information on Lexus, Toyota and Scion customers should check their vehicle’s status by visiting http://www.toyota.com/recall and entering the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).  Safety Recall inquiry by individual VIN is also available at the NHTSA site: safercar.gov/vin.  For any additional questions, customer support is also available by calling Lexus Customer Service at 1-800-255-3987. 

Source: Official Website of the Japanese Automaker

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