Laguna Hills, CA – December 31, 2018 – Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Toyota Tacoma vehicles due to a potential brake issue. Toyota estimates that at least 90 percent of the involved vehicles have potential to develop the failed seal condition over the lifetime of the vehicle, which could lead to the unreasonable risk to safety. The potential number of units affected is 44,121.

The Defect

According to the NHTSA Recall Safety Report, the vehicles contain a brake master cylinder that includes a rubber seal which seals the brake fluid within the housing as the master cylinder piston moves. Due to combinations of improper part machining operations at one supplier facility and casting variations of master cylinders at another of its facilities, there is a possibility that a master cylinder could have an edge that does not have the correct chamfer where the rubber seal is retained. If this were to occur, over time, this edge could damage the rubber seal, causing an internal fluid leak. If the vehicle continues to be operated in this condition, the brake pedal feel could change, and front brake performance could be suddenly reduced. Reduced front braking performance could increase the vehicle stopping distance and may increase the risk of a crash.

Timeline of Events

According to the chronology report issued by Toyota, in June 2018, Toyota received three field reports on 2018 Tacoma vehicles which described the brake pedal traveling to the floor and reduced braking ability. All three of these vehicles had less than 600 miles. The brake master cylinders were recovered and sent to the part supplier for investigation. In August, Toyota received additional field reports of this condition, which master cylinders were also recovered and sent to the supplier for investigation. In September, the part supplier began providing its preliminary analysis based on some of the recovered parts. This preliminary analysis indicated that an internal leak existed which was caused by a cut rubber seal, and it was observed in these cases that the channel within the bore of the master cylinder, which is designed to retain the rubber seal, had an edge that did not have the correct chamfer.

Between October 2018 – early December 2018, the part supplier reported that their testing had identified multiple improper processes completed at the U.S. machining facility. When some combination of these improper processes were applied to non-concentric castings from the supplier casting facility in Japan, there existed a possibility of producing master cylinders with edges at the channel of the bore with varying levels of incorrect chamfer. It was also determined that this would only occur on parts cast in the supplier’s Japan facility and machined at the supplier’s U.S. facility.

Additional testing on newly machined master cylinders with edges of different incorrect chamfers revealed that the seals in a number of these tests were damaged and may eventually result in an internal leak. Any parts which were cast in the supplier’s Japan facility and machined in the supplier’s U.S. facility during the production range preceding identification of a potential issue may have some level of incorrect chamfer which may damage the seal.

It was determined that a damaged seal could cause brake fluid to leak internally, causing the brake pedal feel to change, and front brake performance could be suddenly reduced. On December 7, 2018, based on the results of the above investigation, Toyota decided to conduct a voluntary safety recall campaign. As of December 3, 2018, Toyota was only aware of 5 Toyota Field Technical Reports (3 unconfirmed reports) and 37 warranty claims (28 unverified claims) received from U.S. sources which were considered in the recall decision. Toyota is unaware of any accidents or injuries.

The Solution

All known owners of the involved vehicles will be notified via first class mail to return their vehicles to a Toyota dealer. Toyota dealers will replace the brake master cylinder with a new one, free of charge. As the owner notification letters will be mailed out well within the active period of the Toyota New Vehicle Limited Warranty (“Warranty”), all involved vehicle owners for this recall would have been provided a repair at no cost under Toyota’s Warranty. The recall is expected to begin January 21, 2019. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371. Toyota’s numbers for this recall are J16/J06. Owners may also call the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153). The NHTSA Campaign Number for this recall is 18V-888.

2017-2019 Toyota 4Runner: Recall Alert

Laguna Hills, CA – November 2, 2018 – Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC (SET) is recalling certain 2017-2019 Toyota 4Runner vehicles that SET modified to be equipped with a TRD wheel package on which a certification label was incorrect. This recall is expected to affect 1295 vehicles in North America.

The Defect

According to the NHTSA Recall Safety Report, the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) on the certification label may be incorrect, possibly resulting in the vehicle being overloaded. An overloaded vehicle can increase the risk of a crash.

Timeline of Events

During a routine data validation audit on in late September 2018, it was discovered that the accessory weight for the TRD Wheel Package was not accurately relayed to the software used to calculate the load carrying capacity modification labels. The TRD Wheel Package is installed by SET at the request of Toyota and is considered standard equipment on the special edition TRD 4Runner from Toyota. However, the TRD Wheel package weight was not included in the final vehicle certification, and should have been included in the load carrying capacity modification label calculation. This led to affected vehicles having the incorrect cargo weight capacity listed and some having a negative cargo carrying capacity.

The Solution

SET will notify the customers by mail of the noncompliance. An accurate label will be provided to apply over the inaccurate label at no charge. Each label will be customized for the corresponding customer’s vehicle based on the net weight of the accessories installed. Fifteen (15) vehicles have been identified which cannot be remedied solely with a revised label. They may require an alternate remedy to remain in line with net weight restrictions and allow cargo carrying capacity to shift out of negative. These customers will be contacted separately, and options provided, one of which may be the  exchange or upgrade of accessories at no charge to reduce the overall weight and increase cargo carrying load capacity.

Customers will be notified and arrangements made to provide a suitable remedy. SET expects the mailing of customer notification letters to begin on or about December 24, 2018. Owners may contact SET customer service at 1-866-405-4226. SET’s number for this recall is SET18A. Owners may also call the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153). The NHTSA Campaign Number for this recall is 18V-753.

Laguna Hills, CA – October 19, 2018 – Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2019 Toyota C-HR vehicles due to insufficiently tightened rear axle bearing bolts. The recall is expected to include 681 potentially affected vehicles, as no more than 0.1% of those included are expected to actually contain the defect. Toyota estimates this based on the results of inspections that, as of September 25th, out of 4500 inspected vehicles, there were 4 vehicles with the hub bearing bolts not tightened sufficiently.

The Defect

According to the NHTSA Recall Safety Report, the subject vehicles are equipped with left-hand and right-hand rear axle hub bearing assemblies. These are connected to the rear axle carrier subassemblies by four rear axle bearing bolts. One or more rear axle bearing bolts on a few vehicles may not have been sufficiently during the manufacturing process at one particular facility.

Any insufficiently tightened bolt could become loose during vehicle operation and could eventually detach. Any detached bolt could damage the rear brake components during rotation, or result in a rear wheel detaching completely, Either of these events can cause a reduction of brake performance or a potential loss of vehicle stability, increasing the risk of a crash.

Timeline of Events

In late August 2018, Toyota received a field report from the Russia market about a 2018MY C-HR. The report indicated that of the four rear left-hand axle hub and bearing bolts, three were loose and one was missing altogether.  Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey (TMMT) investigated the possibility of any abnormality in the hub and bearing assembly manufacturing process.

A review revealed that during the production period spanning four days after a planned manufacturing facility shutdown in mid-June, tightening errors occurred sporadically in the hub bearing tightening process. This was confirmed to be due to several process and equipment changes in the hub and bearing assembly manufacturing process which caused a failure to confirm the torque and allowed the passing of parts to the next process.

TMMT initiated a 100% tightening torque confirmation and introduced a series of improvements to prevent bolt tightening error and began to inspect the vehicles in Toyota inventory equipped with the hub and bearing assemblies that were produced in the indicated production period.

An additional field report was received on September 18th from the UK market describing a C-HR vehicle produced outside the time period, with two loose and two missing rear left-hand axle bearing bolts. The investigation allowed an expanded time period for potential issues to be identified and confirmed, and Toyota decided to conduct a voluntary safety recall campaign in early October.

The Solution

All known owners of the subject vehicles will be notified by first class mail to return their vehicles to a Toyota dealer. The dealership will inspect all rear axle hub bearing bolts, and if a bolt is found to be loose or detached, the dealer will replace the rear axle hub bearing assembly and rear axle carrier sub-assembly with new parts, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin November 9, 2018. Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371. Toyota’s number for this recall is J0Y.

Owners may also call the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153). The NHTSA Campaign Number for this recall is 18V-710.

Laguna Hills, CA – October 16, 2018 – Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (Toyota) is recalling certain 2018-2019 Toyota Tundra and Sequoia vehicles and 2019 Toyota Avalon and Avalon Hybrid vehicles. The air bag electronic control unit (ECU) may erroneously detect a fault during the vehicle start-up self-check. If this occurs, the ECU may not deploy the airbags as intended, in the event of a crash. The defect affects in excess of a potential 168,000 vehicles.

The Defect

According to the NHTSA Recall Safety Report, due to inappropriate programming in the subject vehicles, the Airbag (SRS) ECU may erroneously detect a fault in one or more of the front or side SRS satellite sensors during a self-check that occurs at each vehicle start up. This condition will cause the vehicle to set a specific trouble code, disable the affected sensor(s), sound a warning buzzer, activate multiple warning lights, and display a message on the combination meter display. If a fault is erroneously detected, the Airbag ECU may not appropriately identify the crash condition if a crash occurs, and the airbags may not deploy as intended, significantly increasing the chance of injury.

Toyota is unable to provide an estimate of the percentage of the vehicles to actually contain the noncompliance. Whether the condition will occur prior to first sale and constitute a noncompliance will differ depending on part variation and whether normal sensor variances will cause the inappropriate programming of the diagnostic function to set a specific trouble code in each case.

Timeline of Events

In early July 2018, Toyota received reports describing illumination of the SRS warning light, which was the result of one of a specific type of diagnostic trouble code (DTC) being set. The light was accompanied by a warning buzzer, master warning light illumination, and a message on the multi-information display. Toyota recovered replaced SRS satellite sensors and began an investigation.

In mid-July 2018, the supplier performed bench testing of the sensors alone, and did not identify a fault. Testing was then conducted with the sensors connected to the entire SRS system including the ECU and, in some cases, the same DTCs related to the airbag sensors were recreated.

In early August, a review of the Airbag ECU software identified that the parameters for this self-check were not correct for the type of satellite sensors used in the system, which could result in a failure of the self-check. Failure of the self-check could disable only the sensor which failed for that key cycle. Each ignition on cycle performs the self-check, and factors such as heat can affect whether the sensor will pass this check using the incorrect parameters.

A study was initiated to evaluate how the SRS system would function in the event of a crash with any of these satellite sensors disabled. Based on the results of the investigation, the results of the aforementioned analysis, and the field information from the U.S. market indicating that this phenomenon could occur prior to first sale, on September 28, 2018, Toyota decided that the subject vehicles may not meet certain requirements and issued a voluntary recall to correct the problem.

The Solution

All known owners of the subject vehicles will be notified by first class mail to return their vehicles to a Toyota dealer. The dealers will update the software of the Airbag ECU at no cost to owners. As the owner notification letters will be mailed out well within the active period of the Toyota New Vehicle Limited Warranty, all involved vehicle owners for this recall would have been provided a repair at no cost under Toyota’s Warranty. The recall is expected to begin October 22, 2018.

Owners may contact Toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371. Toyota’s number for this recall is J0X. Owners may also call the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153). The NHTSA Campaign Number for this recall is 18V-685.