Toyota Motor Sales today announced that it will conduct a voluntary safety recall involving approximately 52,000 2001 through 2003 Prius vehicles sold in the U.S. to replace the electric power steering pinion shaft attachment nuts. This announcement is for U.S. vehicles included in Toyota Motor Corporation’s global recall of 106,000 vehicles.
The 2001 Prius had previously been recalled for sensor problems with the electric power steering, but in much smaller numbers. That of course was before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration imposed record fines on Toyota last year for its handling or non-handling of safety defect matters. (See Toyota Recall Study Finds Adversarial Relationship with NHTSA)
In the current Prius steering recall, if the steering wheel is repeatedly and “strongly” turned to the full-lock position, there is a possibility the nuts securing the pinion shaft in the steering gear box assembly may become loose. The Electric Power Steering (EPS) system provides power assistance to reduce steering effort. It generates torque using a power steering motor and a reduction mechanism which are assembled in the steering gear box assembly.
“If the vehicle is continuously operated in this condition, over time, the customer will gradually notice significant increased steering effort when making a left turn,” Toyota said in a statement.
Toyota dealers will install improved nuts that secure the pinion shaft at no charge to the vehicle owner as is required by NHTSA regulations. The repair will take approximately 4 hours. Owner notification letters will begin in early July, 2011.
In a separate recall announced by TMS, 34 Venza AWD and 16 Sienna AWD vehicles have an insufficiently heat treated front right-hand driveshaft. All of these vehicles are recently produced 2011 model year. Only 38 are expected to have an insufficiently heat-treated driveshaft.
There is a possibility that the front right-hand driveshaft may break. If this occurs, engine power will not be transmitted to the wheels and the vehicle will coast to a stop.
No other Toyota or Lexus vehicles are involved in these recalls and the driveshaft recall only involves vehicles in the U.S. and Canada, Toyota said.
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