Toyota Nigeria recalls Hilux, Rav4, Yaris Vehicles

Toyota Nigeria Limited on Tuesday announced the recall of the 2004-2005 Hilux and the 2005-2006 Rav4 vehicles from the market in order to replace a malfunctioning spiral cable.

It also said the 2006-2008 Toyota Yaris would be recalled to fix its seat track that was found to be unstable in some of the units.

This is coming about a week after Toyota Motor Corporation announced a wide-ranging recall of nearly 6.4 million vehicles worldwide for problems associated with air bags that might not deploy or seats that could move in a crash.

The Executive Director, TNL, Mr. Kunle Ade-Ojo, said at a press conference in Lagos that the Nigerian recall was at the instance of its parent company, TMC, which acted following persistent complaints from both owners and dealers of the affected vehicles about the recurring faults.

He explained that the recall of vehicles was often undertaken by the manufacturers as a safety measure and a mark of responsibility and genuine concern for the welfare of the customers.

“This is to show that the safety of our customers is paramount to us,” he added.

Ade-Ojo also stated that reports from the TMC indicated that no records of accidents from the spiral cable malfunctioning and seat track problem had been reported.

He said not all units of the three models sold in Nigeria were affected, adding that the firm was still compiling a comprehensive list of those involved, in conjunction with its accredited dealers.

The TNL boss said the chassis numbers of the affected vehicles would be published once the list was ready to further alert the owners and indicate where to take the vehicles to.

Already, he said the company had placed an order for the supply of the spiral cable from the manufacturer and expected the delivery of sufficient number in a few weeks’ time.

He said it would take just about an hour to fix the cable, adding, “All we need to do is to remove the cable and replace it.”

According to Ade-Ojo, the cable connects the switches on the steering wheel to the horn and the airbag, and is responsible for transmitting electrical signals to those points.

He explained that owners of vehicles with such defect would usually get alerted through a signal light on the dashboard.

For the Yaris, he said the problematic seat track made the seats to move back and forth, which could cause some discomfort and injury to the passengers.

He absolved Toyota of any blame for the delay in identifying the problems.

“Toyota has a culture of continuously assessing its vehicles. And when we identify cases like this, the TMC will call for a detailed investigation and take steps to address the problem,” he said.