2005 steering recall delayed nearly a year
By Curt Anderson |
May 12, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TOYOTA waited nearly a year in 2005 to recall trucks and SUVs in the United States with defective steering rods, despite issuing a similar recall in Japan and receiving dozens of reports from American motorists about rods that snapped without warning, an Associated Press investigation has found.
The lengthy gap between the Japanese and US recalls - strikingly similar to Toyota's handling of the recent recall for sudden acceleration problems - triggered a new investigation on Monday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which could fine the auto maker up to US$16.4 million. That was also the amount Toyota paid last month in the acceleration case.
The AP reviewed hundreds of pages of court documents, including many of Toyota's internal communications from the period when the steering problems first emerged. The AP also analyzed government files and complaints from drivers who experienced trouble behind the wheel.
After the 2004 Japanese recall, Toyota claimed initially that it had scant evidence of a steering rod problem among US trucks and SUVs. But the AP found that the auto maker had received at least 52 reports from US drivers about the defect before vehicles were recalled in Japan.
Toyota told the AP that it has now confirmed seven total cases in the US of steering problems in the T100 small pickup and no reports of accidents or injuries. Company spokesman Brian Lyons said on Monday that the auto maker received an information request from NHTSA and intended to cooperate with the agency's inquiry.
NHTSA has now linked 16 crashes, three deaths and seven injuries to the steering rod defect.
The lengthy gap between the Japanese and US recalls - strikingly similar to Toyota's handling of the recent recall for sudden acceleration problems - triggered a new investigation on Monday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which could fine the auto maker up to US$16.4 million. That was also the amount Toyota paid last month in the acceleration case.
The AP reviewed hundreds of pages of court documents, including many of Toyota's internal communications from the period when the steering problems first emerged. The AP also analyzed government files and complaints from drivers who experienced trouble behind the wheel.
After the 2004 Japanese recall, Toyota claimed initially that it had scant evidence of a steering rod problem among US trucks and SUVs. But the AP found that the auto maker had received at least 52 reports from US drivers about the defect before vehicles were recalled in Japan.
Toyota told the AP that it has now confirmed seven total cases in the US of steering problems in the T100 small pickup and no reports of accidents or injuries. Company spokesman Brian Lyons said on Monday that the auto maker received an information request from NHTSA and intended to cooperate with the agency's inquiry.
NHTSA has now linked 16 crashes, three deaths and seven injuries to the steering rod defect.
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