By now, if you follow automotive news at all, you've heard of the 2.3 million vehicles recalled by Toyota.  It's not like other car manufacturers don't have recalls, but Toyota's is massive, and involves a very serious component of the vehicles.  Toyota's recall affects the gas pedal, which can be extremely dangerous if it fails, unlike the Camaro battery cable recall.

Affected Toyota Recall Vehicles:

• 2009-2010 Rav 4
• 2009-2010 Corolla
• 2009-2010 Matrix
• 2005-2010 Avalon
• 2007-2010 Camry
• 2010 Highlander
• 2007-2010 Tundra
• 2008-2010 Sequoia

Ignore the immediate millions of dollars needed to actually fix these vehicles, imagine the consumer backlash of not trusting Toyota vehicles in the future.  What kind of affect will this Toyota recall have on future sales?  In an attempt to keep dealerships happy, Toyota has agreed to pay up to $75,000 per dealership to cover incidentals involved with this recall.  It's money to keep dealerships from jumping ship and switching manufacturers.

In January alone it's estimated that Toyota dealerships have lost more than 20,000 unit sales.  Couple the gas pedal scare with the latest news of brake problems with the Prius in Japan and you have the right mixture to create consumer hatred for a long time to come.  Perhaps if Toyota would have responded faster to eradicate acceleration faster, as far back as 2002, they wouldn't be in the mess they are in now.

In Japan, shouldn't the CEO go fall on a sword?

There are a lot of recalls that float around through out the year, but generally consist of non-lethal issues.  However, when it comes to brakes, it's worth making an announcement about here on the blog.  Chrysler has announced a recall on over 24k vehicles, because of a defective part in the braking mechanism.  If not fixed the part could cause an immediate failure in the braking ability of the vehicle, obviously resulting in a crash.

The majority of Chrysler vehicles effected by the brake recall are Dodge Ram pickups, made from 2009-2010.  Also included in the recall are some Nitros, Avengers, Chrysler Sebring, Jeep Liberty, Commander, and Grand Cherokee.  If you ignore most recalls because of how insignificant they seem, don't wait around on this one.  Get to your local dealer ASAP, for the sake of yourself and those that you share the road with.

For recall information please contact Chrysler via phone or email.

Looks like I was correct, the 2010 Camaro recall list has began.  The only Camaro's affected by the recall will be the SS V8 models and ultimately pissing off only about 300 new 2010 Camaro owners.  The rest of the Camaro recalls can be performed in house before being delivered to their owners.

The 2010 Camaro recall is for a manufacturing defective battery cable.  Essentially this makes the Camaro completely die or in worst case scenarios catch fire.  As of this posting no fires have been reported due to the battery cable rubbing up agains the Camaro starter.

GM has agreed to not only fix the issue listed in the recall but also provide a free loaner vehicle and a free oil change for the new Camaro owners troubles.

2010 Camaro Recall

Please sign up to The-Grayline.com Automotive Blog RSS subscription to get 2010 Camaro Recall updates in your inbox.

Predictions

Every car manufacturers goal is to release a vehicle with zero recalls, but unfortunatley bugs make it through the system.  No doubt the upcoming release of the new Camaro will expose some problems, which will lead to a recall.  I decided to look back at the Camaro, to see if I can guess what kind of recall we might expect for the buyers of the all new hyped Camaro.

The very last year the Camaro was manufacturered it only had 3 recalls.  There were two exterior lighting problem and a structure frame issue.  The frame member recall with the Camaro was fixed by placing a few extra rivets into the frame, supposedly to conform to a specific safey requirement.  The exterior lighting recall on the 02 Camaro was simply an issue with not containing Amber reflectors, which failed to meet code of certain states.

The final hoo-ra for the Camaro was a good one, in terms of insignificant recalls.  Although safety is always important, the recall on the Camaro was not as serious as tire issues, combustible problems, which seem to plague other manufacturers.  And the exterior lighting problem has been an ongoing problem for the Camaro since 1997.  You'd think these guys would learn by now.

So, I predict that the first recall for the 2010 Camaro will be for an exterior lighting issue.  I'd also like to add that I suspect there will be more than 3 recalls on the newest release of the Camaro, considering it's 'all new'.  The last time we saw the Camaro it had already been through the gauntlet, so most bugs were worked out.  The end of this year, when the 2010's start showing up on our roads, will be a whole new ball game.

Discuss 2010 Camaro Recalls and Your Predictions

(more...)

Hard to believe only a few short months ago I was talking about how safe the Toyota Yaris was going to be for the US market.  This little toy car was supposed to set records for safety and protection of it's drivers, despite it's small size.  Well, apparently the experts found out otherwise and now Toyota is facing a large recall of the Yaris.

According to reports a foam pad near the seat belt could ignite during collisions.  Sounds interesting, considering anything that's flammable has the ability to ignite in any type of friction collision.  So to me, sounds a little suspicious, but I'm the type of person who believes in conspiracy theory.  Hopefully Toyota will get the Yaris back on the road and selling to start improving sales figures going into 09.

Personally I'm starting to hate how recall's are just an expected part of purchasing a new car.  It would seem no matter what manufacturer, you will have at least a few recalls.  Even after manufacturers spend millions of dollars on testing, research, and engineering they can still screw up and need to spend even more to fix a problem that should have been found. duh!?  I'm curious what portion of recalls effects a car manufacturers red line?

Toyota is the latest to issue a recall, which effects their Corolla and Matrix model lines.  Reportedly the bolts holding the power windows can cause the glass to actually shatter.  While this is minor in terms of some of the recalls out there, minor accidents have already been reported.

The recall is part of Toyota's safety recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) involving approximately 539,500 cars. The manufacturing defect is noticed on 2003 and 2004 model Corolla and Matrix cars.

Toyota Matrix XR 30MPG NO RESERVE SHARP SERVICED RUST FREE ONLY 27K MILES AUTO    US $100.00

Toyota Matrix 4DR Hatch 2006 TOYOTA MATRIX 4DR HATCHBACK    US $500.00

Toyota Matrix 06 TOYOTA MATRIX QUARTER DAMAGE SALVAGE TITLE 37K MILES    US $3,000.00

Just because you may have a little age on a vehicle doesn't mean that it's immune to recalls.  It's important to keep up with what's being recalled, because just the other day GMC recalled GMC Jimmy's from 2000-2001.  Nothing terrible, but the multifunction switch installed in the 2000-2001 Jimmy could cause a problem with the stop lamps and rear hazard lights.

Easy fix though, once the Jimmy is taken into the dealers they will simply reinstall a new switch.  Of course this fix will be done free of charge.  Repairs on this recall will begin on June 17, 2008.

Jimmy's on eBay

GMC Jimmy 2001 GMC JIMMY 4X4 EASY BODY FIX LOW RESERVE    US $200.00

GMC Jimmy Sierra 1500 One clean classic 4x4 truck with a 6 lift    US $200.00

GMC Jimmy SLE 1997 GMC JIMMY 4 PARTS OR 4 OFF ROADING 4X4 RUNS GREAT    US $255.00

Recalls galore, with rather important possible failures, including a fuel line and interior door handles.  The recall indludes the Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator, and E-Series Vans. The Ford recall includes all model years 2007-2008.

The problem could prevent the door handles from returning to a closed position, but the latches work properly, said Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood. However, in a side crash, there could be a risk of the door latch opening because of the problems, he said.

As of this posting there have been no reports of fires from the faulty fuel rail, crashes, or serious incidents with the supposed faulty hardware. Expect dealers to start fixing the recall on the interior handles in February and the fuel issue in March.

FORD AUTO CAR US CAR STORE DEALER NEON LIGHT SIGN    US $.01

Ford Explorer Sport Blue Diecast 1 64 164    US $1.99

Ford Mustang GT Yellow 2010 Diecast 1 64 164    US $1.99

Toyota has issued a recall on more than a quarter million Lexus model vehicles. All the recalls were in regards to a defective fuel line which could lead to fuel leakage. Yet another blow to Toyota and Lexus brand reliability standard. Expect recalls such as this to slow the grow of the manufacturer, set to overtake GM as the largest Automotive Manufacturer in the world.

In the United States, the latest Toyota recall involves 26,274 Lexus GS300, 5,429 Lexus IS250, and 2,640 Lexus IS350 vehicles. The recalled Toyota models were exported from Japan, and the same models are also being recalled in Canada, England, and Germany. There have been 39 cases of trouble involving recalled Toyotas in Japan but no reports of injuries. It was not immediately clear whether any problems have been reported elsewhere.