Toyota Motor Sales announced late yesterday that it would conduct safety recalls involving 170,000 front-passenger airbag inflators installed in multiple vehicle lines. The recalls for the vehicles involved include certain Toyota Corolla, Corolla Matrix, Sequoia, and Tundra, and Lexus SC 430 models manufactured from 2001 – 2003. Toyota did not say how it became aware of the safety problem or how many people have been injured or killed because of it.The safety defect is in vehicles that are equipped with front-passenger airbag inflators that could have been assembled with improperly manufactured propellant wafers.
In a terse statement, Toyota said that improperly manufactured propellant wafers could cause the inflator to rupture and the front passenger airbag to deploy abnormally in the event of a crash. “More precise vehicle information is being developed, but about 510,000 vehicles may have to be inspected to locate the suspect inflators,” Toyota said.
Owners of the potentially unsafe Toyota and Lexus vehicles will receive an owner notification letter by first class mail. The recall will involve inspection of the front passenger air bag, and, if it is equipped with an affected inflator, the inflator will be replaced with a newly manufactured one at no charge to the owner as is required by NHTSA regulations.
Toyota owners can go to www.toyota.com/recall or call 1 800-331-4331. Lexus owners can go to www.lexus.com/recall or call 1 800-255-3987.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
