Toyota Recall of 3.37 Million Vehicles Expands to Include Lexus and Prius Models

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Toyota Motors has recalled 3.37 million cars worldwide due to defects that involve airbags and evaporative Fuel emissions control units. So far there have not been any injuries associated with the defects.

The airbag defects in this current recall were not manufactured by Takata, which is embroiled in a massive recall involving millions of vehicles from nearly two dozen brands and ten deaths in the U.S. These defective airbags were made by Swedish-American manufacturer, Autoliv. The New York Times reports that although there have not been any injuries, there have been incidents where the faulty Autoliv airbags have deployed in parked vehicles spraying the metal parts of the inflator around the car’s cabins. The airbag maker said that substandard welds on inflators that were built by a subcontractor between 2010 and 2012 caused the problem that led to the new recall. Toyota’s recall of affected vehicles with faulty airbags includes the Prius and the Lexus CT200h, which were made between 2010 and 2012.

Faulty emissions control units

The evaporative fuel emissions control units that can be found in the Prius, Auris hatchback and Corolla models made between 2006 and 2015, could produce cracks which could expand over time and cause fuel leaks. According to Reuters.com, there are about 930,000 vehicles affected by both potential defects, which caused the number of recalled vehicles to swell to 3.37 million.

The importance of complying with an automotive recall

If you own a vehicle which has been included in a recall due to safety concerns over defective parts, it is your duty as the vehicle owner to make sure that you bring the vehicle in to have the part replaced. In the case of the Autoliv airbags, while no one have been injured yet, there is still the potential for injury and harm should the airbags deploy when the driver is behind the wheel. The most recent death in the U.S. from the defective Takata airbags occurred in a Honda vehicle that was subject to a safety recall, but the owner had not yet brought the car in to have the airbags replaced.

Vehicle owners will be contacted directly by the manufacturer in the event of a recall. If you want to stay informed about auto safety recalls you can visit Safercar.gov, a website produced by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). On safercar.gov you will find an interactive database that tracks automotive recalls. You can use your vehicle’s VIN to query the database to make sure that your vehicle is not subject to any safety recalls, and you can subscribe to get new recalls pushed directly to you through email notifications.

Making sure that your vehicle is in safe working order is part of your duty as a car owner to yourself and to the other drivers with whom you share the road.

If you have suffered an injury that was caused by defective automotive equipment, you are welcome to schedule your initial free consultation with one of our Delaware products liability attorneys today. We will answer your questions and offer legal advice based on the facts of your case. You may call us at 302-888-2900 or fill out our quick contact form. We are here to serve clients throughout Delaware from our offices in Wilmington, Seaford and Newark.