Combined Toyota recall
September 4, 2013
Japanese carmaker Toyota announced Wednesday it was recalling about 200,000 hybrid sport utility vehicles (SUVs), including the Lexus RX400h, to fix a defect in the inverter.
The company said the glitch in the power converter might cause an alarm to go off and the hybrid might stop running. It added affected by the defect were the Harrier Hybrid (Lexus RX) and the Kluger Hybrid, also called Highlander in foreign markets.
In a separate, but simultaneous move, Toyota said it was recalling 169,000 vehicles because of an engine bolt defect.
No injuries
The auto maker explained that bolts pinning a valve control system could become loose, saying that in the worst scenario the flaw could stop the engine, meaning vehicles would halt in mid-journey.
Toyota said the Crown, Mark X and various Lexus models built in Japan between July 2005 and July 2011 were affected by the glitch.
The Japanese company made a point of stressing that the two separate recalls had to be viewed as precautionary measures, saying it had not received any reports of accidents resulting from either technical issue.
hg/ rg (dpa, AFP, AP)