Toyota to recall millions of cars after discovering new defects
TOYOTA admitted yesterday that it will recall 2.77m vehicles worldwide, including some of its popular Prius hybrid cars, for steering and water pump problems in the carmaker’s second multimillion-vehicle recall in a little over a month.
The defects, which Toyota said had caused no accidents and could each be fixed in an hour or so, could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to repair, according Deutsche Securities autos analyst Kurt Sanger.
Sanger said the extent of the recall suggested a more aggressive stance by the company to address defects after its recall crisis a few years ago. “They seem to continue to be obsessively monitoring these things and looking for potential problems before they arise.”
Toyota is recalling 2.76m vehicles worldwide to fix a steering component that could be damaged by wear and tear, and 630,000 gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles to replace water pumps, company spokesman Joichi Tachikawa said. Many vehicles are targeted by both recalls.