Toyota Recalls 907,000 Corollas and 385,000 Lexus IS Models

On Wednesday, Toyota announced two separate, voluntary recalls involving around 907,000 Corolla models for faulty air-bags and around 385,000 Lexus IS vehicles fitted with defective wipers, from a number of countries around the world.

Most of the affected cars are located in the U.S. where the recall concerns 752,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles from the 2003 and 2004MY, and 270,000 Lexus IS vehicles from the 2006-2012MY.

Read more »

NHTSA Says it Uses Various Forms of Social Media to Discover Defects in Vehicles

Usually agencies such as the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) find out about vehicle issues when the manufacturer or owners who have experienced trouble report to them.

Now, an agency spokeswoman acknowledged that Twitter, Facebook, other social media websites, and even fan sites, online forums and bulletin boards are searched by the NHTSA regularly in order to discover information about possible issues that may warrant an investigation.

A large-scale study published last year by the Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business about online forums showed that they are a new source of information and surveillance for defects in vehicles.

Read more »

Honda Recalls Over 748,000 Pilot and Odyssey Because Airbag May Be Missing Rivets

Honda's American division is recalling certain model year 2009-2013 Pilot and 2011-2013 Odyssey passenger vehicles manufactured from March 13, 2008, through December 21, 2012, after it was discovered that one or more rivets that attach the airbag module to the airbag cover may be missing.

The Japanese carmaker informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that the recall affects 748,481 vehicles sold in the United States.

Read more »

Car Dealers, Rental Companies want to be Exempt of New Bill About Recall Repairs

The U.S. Congress wants to introduce new legislation that will prohibit any rental-car company or car dealer to loan or sell any recalled vehicle before the necessary repairs have been made.

The new bill, knows as the Rachel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act, is named after two sisters from Santa Cruz, California, who were killed when the car they had rented caught fire and crashed into a tree. Said rental vehicle was affected by a recall but had not been repaired.

Read more »

Toyota Prius and Lexus HS 250h Class-Action Lawsuit Dismissed by California Court

If there’s one thing Toyota has in abundance in the U.S., apart from sales and models, it is lawsuits. This time, though, the Japanese automaker scored a victory as U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in California denied a class-action lawsuit by owners of Prius and Lexus models.

More specifically, the judge denied four car owners’ request to represent other owners of 2010 Prius and Lexus HS 250h models in California over a 2010 recall for a software upgrade that fixed an issue with the cars’ ABS system.

Read more »