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TORRANCE, Calif. (Bloomberg)—Toyota Motor Corp. said it’s recalling 2.17 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold in the U.S. for carpet and floor-mat flaws that could jam the gas pedal, the company’s biggest such announcement in a year.
The action includes 1.38 million vehicles being added to the company’s November 2009 recall to fix floor mats that could shift out of position, Toyota said today in a statement.
The vehicles in that expanded recall include 603,000 model 2003 through 2009 4Runner sport-utility vehicles; 761,000 model 2006 through 2010 RAV4 SUVs; and 17,000 model 2008 through 2011 Lexus LX SUVs.
Toyota is also recalling 769,000 model 2004 through early 2007 Highlander, Highlander Hybrid and 2004 through 2006 Lexus RX330, RX350 and RX400h SUVs to replace driver’s side floor-carpet covers and retention clips. About 20,000 model 2006 through early 2007 Lexus GS sedans are being recalled to adjust the shape of the plastic pad in the driver’s side carpet. In each case, carpet could shift and potentially interfere with the accelerator.
Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, called back millions of U.S. vehicles last year, most for defects related to unintended acceleration, and paid a record $48.8 million in fines for how some of the recalls were conducted. This month U.S. safety regulators said they were unable to find any cause for unintended acceleration other than mechanical errors and possible driver error.
The company previously recalled a total of 5.3 million U.S. vehicles to fix floor mats, said Brian Lyons, a Toyota spokesman.
Separately, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week opened an investigation of Highlander Hybrids over customer complaints the vehicles were prone to stalling. The company hasn’t yet received NHTSA’s request for information on that matter, Mr. Lyons said.
U.S. sales operations for Toyota, based in Toyota City, Japan, are in Torrance, Calif.
Copyright 2011 Bloomberg
LOS ANGELES (Reuters)—Toyota has agreed to pay $10 million to settle the lawsuit brought by the family of a California state trooper and three relatives whose fatal car wreck helped spark the automaker's wide-ranging safety recall.