The government safety agency, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has upgraded its investigation to a full blown engineering analysis of a staggering 1.4 million Toyota cars and trucks. This engineering analysis may very well lead to a recall, although not all engineering analysis do result in recalls. Toyota drivers should stay on alert to this possibility just in case.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received numerous complaints revolving around fires being started in Toyota vehicles that were built between September 2006 and August of 2008. These models use the same power window master switch design which is thought to be the main cause of the fire risks. The complaints report nine injuries and 161 crashes or fires. No deaths from these crashes have been reported, only the nine injuries so far. We are unsure of the extent of the injuries that were reported. Other reports have come in, including 49 warranty claims including fires and “thermal events”.
The investigation, started back in February. It originally included 830,000 Toyota Camry and Toyota RAV4 vehicles, this number expanded to a total of 1,424,747 Toyota models. The engineering analysis being conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration includes the Toyota Camry models built between 2007 and 2009, The Toyota Camry Hybrid, Toyota RAV4 and Toyota Yaris models. The Toyota Highlander Hybrid crossover is also included in the engineering analysis.
There is no news so far as to what measures Toyota is taking to assist in the engineering analysis although we can probably assume that they are doing their best to cooperate with all facets of the investigation. If you own, or know someone who owns any of these models, built between 2007 to 2009, make sure and pay attention for updated information from Toyota or The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Source: Reuters