Toyota adds Prado to recall list

TOYOTA Australia has extended a major product recall announced earlier this month to include approximately 2050 examples of its current-generation 150-Series Prado wagons built between September 2009 and June 2010.

At the same time, Toyota has reduced the number of HiLux utes to be recalled over the same airbag issue as the Prado from around 179,000 to 142,900 vehicles.

As announced last week, around 118,600 Yaris models have also been recalled to service centres – this figure is unchanged.

All three late-model lines affected are at risk of having a faulty spiral cable electric connection for the driver’s airbag module, which could in time lead to the warning light illuminating and the airbag failing to deploy.

Toyota says the problem is exacerbated by repeated turning of the steering wheel, though says no real-world issues have occurred and the recall, as with the original campaign launched two weeks ago, is strictly preventative.

Repair work for all vehicles will involve the replacement of the spiral cable assembly. In most cases, this will take approximately one hour to carry out.

Toyota will fix the issue at no cost.

Affected customers will be notified of the recall by mail at their last known address and asked to make an appointment at an authorised Toyota dealer to have the spiral cable assembly replaced.

It is expected that the mail out to affected customers will commence late in July once parts become available.

In February Toyota recalled 1.9 million of its Prius hybrids (including 2500 in Australia) due to software faults that could cause them to lose power or halt.

Earlier this month the company also recalled 13,800 70 Series LandCruisers in Australia.

Last month Toyota was fined $US1.2 billion by the US Attorney General’s office after an investigation into claims that the Japanese car-maker misled the public over its communication of the “sticking” accelerator defect that prompted a massive recall in 2009-2010.

That campaign affected close to 10 million vehicles worldwide.