Honda Airbag Recall

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In November of 2008 and June 2009 Japan’s number two automaker, Honda, recalled a total of 510,00 vehicles for an airbag inflator. This week the recall has been expanded to include another 428,000 vehicles.

The driver’s airbag inflators in these vehicles may deploy with too much pressure, which can cause the inflator casing to rupture resulting in injury or fatality. The airbag defect has been linked to one fatality and eleven injuries in the United States. There have been no other reports, Honda said. All cars to be recalled globally are made at Honda’s U.S. and Canadian plants.

The latest recall applies to:

Owners of these vehicles will receive notification through the mail or can go to http://owners.honda.com/recalls or call (800) 999-1009; Acura owners can go to http://owners.acura.com/recalls or call (800) 382-2238.

Toyota Prius Experiences Brake Problems

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received over one hundred complaints involving the brakes on the 2010 Prius. People complained about momentary loss of braking while traveling over an uneven road surface. Four of the complaints claimed the momentary loss resulted in an accident. Toyota spokeswoman, Martha Voss, said the company had been informed of the agency’s plans to open an investigation and added that “Toyota will cooperate fully”.

Toyota’s manager in charge of quality, Hiroyuki Yokoyama, said the company had identified the problem and corrected the glitch for Priuses sold since late January. He said the company was still considering what actions to take for cars already on the road and had not ruled out a recall.

Mr. Yokoyama told reporters that the new Priuses experienced a slight unresponsiveness of the brakes that he said was easy to resolve by pressing harder on the brake pedal. The problem occurred, because the technologically advanced Prius has two braking systems, and a glitch sometimes prevented the car from transitioning smoothly between the two.

It’s Important To Get Your Recalls Done

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According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), we are not very good at following up on recalls. Recall completion rates are about 30% for child seats, less than 50% for tires and more than 70% for vehicles. What about all the recalls that were not done? Is the product no longer used, has it been sold and the recall hasn’t made it to the new owner, or is it just the neglect of the consumer?

It is in your best interest for the safety of yourself and those around you to seek out any recall information for the products you own, especialy if safety could be a concern. Get your RECALLS and TSB’S at the click of a button with the California Lemon Law Specialist.

Toyota Finds Fix For Recall

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Toyota Motor Corp. has announced that they will resume production of the eight vehicles involved in last weeks sale and production stoppage. Speaking on The Today Show on NBC, Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA and a 28 year veteran at Toyota, said the company was confident it had found a fix for the 2.4 million affected vehicles. The recall will also include some PSA Peugeot Citroen cars made at joint Toyota-PSA factory in the Czech Republic. Including recalls in China and Europe, almost eight million Toyota vehicles will be repaired globally, including the separate problem involving floor mats and pedals.

CTS Corporation Supplies Toyota Pedals

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In the auto industry, it is expensive for each auto manufacturer to design and build every component for their vehicles. As a result, they go to automotive suppliers who build OEM parts that are bought by many different auto manufacturers. The gas pedal assembly at the center of Toyota’s stop sale and recall are one of these OEM parts. It was designed and built by a company called the CTS Corporation. They are a leading designer and manufacturer of electronic components and sensors and a provider of electronics manufacturing services in the automotive, communications, medical, defense, aerospace, industrial and computer markets. CTS manufactures products in North America, Europe and Asia. They also sell assemblies to Honda, Ford, GM and Chrysler.

Honda spokeswoman, Christina Ra reassured their customers by saying, “We use the same supplier for a small number of vehicles sold in the U.S. We do not use the same components as are involved in our competitor’s recall. We directly confirmed with CTS that it is not the same component.”

Ford, also a CTS pedal customer, has halted production in China of its Transit Classic diesel van, which is the only Ford product to use a CTS pedal assembly. The van is sold only in China. “Ford has its own unique design and engineering for its accelerator pedals globally,” Said Deep, a Ford spokesman. “In a review, we determined that none of our other vehicles worldwide use the CTS pedal.” ” 1,663 Transit Classic vans with the CTS pedal had been produced, and the company was investigating how many had reached customers. “We are constantly monitoring performance, and we have not seen any design issue related to unintended acceleration in Ford vehicles,” Mr. Deep said.

Alan Adler, a spokesman for G.M., said that the automaker has “no direct contractual supplier relationship” with CTS, though he said the company could be supplying components through other suppliers.

Chrysler said the pedals CTS makes for the company are different from Toyota’s. “Accelerator pedals produced by CTS Automotive for Chrysler Group LLC vehicles are a different specification and design and are manufactured using different production tooling and materials than the pedals produced for Toyota,”

You can CLICK HERE to view CTS Corporations press release of the Toyota accelerator pedal recall.

Toyota Suspends Sales And Production Of Eight Models

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Toyota Motor Company will temporarily stop selling and building eight models for the U.S. market as it tries to resolve a problem with faulty gas pedals. Toyota said the stoppage includes:

-2009-2010 RAV4
-2009-2010 Corolla
-2007-2010 Camry
-2009-2010 Matrix
-2005-2010 Avalon
-2010 Highlander
-2007-2010 Tundra
-2008-2010 Sequoia

After recalling 3.8 million vehicles in September over concerns that accelerator pedals could get stuck in floor mats and this months recalled of another 2.3 million vehicles, a total of 1.7 million vehicles were in both recalls. This “stop sale” and the two recalls threaten Toyota’s reputation as an automaker focused on manufacturing safe and high-quality vehicles.

Bycicle Friendly Long Beach California

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Chevy Volt DanceStreet by street, people are starting to see some big changes in Long Beach California. This started last summer when green paint, also known as “sharrows” (shared lane marking) appeared on the roads of the city’s busiest streets. These lines were put there as a reminder for motorist to share the roads with cyclists. According to a December report by the city, the number of cyclists on 2nd Street increased by 29% while the number of bikes on the narrow sidewalks decreased by 22%. The amount of incidents on the streets has also decreased.

The success of the “sharrows” has prompted the city to undertake other bicycle oriented enhancements such as adding more “sharrows” on streets where bikes tend to congregate and adding “bicycle boxes” that give cyclist a safe place in front of cars to wait for signal changes. The city is also working with businesses to provide incentives such as 20% lunch discounts to prompt cyclist to ride their bikes more.

The program has also sparked interest from other cities. This week, the city is hosting delegate transit planners from Los Angeles, Glendale and other nearby cities who would like to draw inspiration from the Long Beach bike plan. City manager Patrick West (who rides a road bike around town on the weekends) jokes that the rise in recent bike thefts is a good thing, because it means that there are more people out riding bikes.

Toyota Gas Pedal Recall Continued

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On Thursday, Toyota Motor Sales (TSM) U.S.A., announced it would recall almost 2.3 million vehicles due to sticking accelerator pedals. This announcement is separate from the earlier recall of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles to fix a design flaw that could cause the gas pedal to become trapped under the floor mat. Approximately 1.7 million vehicles are subject to both separate recall actions.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been looking into two recent incidents in Texas and New Jersey, and was considering starting an investigation. Four people died on Dec. 26 near Dallas when a Toyota Avalon sped off a road and into a pond. Police found the floor mats in the Avalon’s trunk.

“In recent months, Toyota has investigated isolated reports of sticking accelerator pedal mechanisms in certain vehicles without the presence of floor mats,” said TMS Group Vice President Irv Miller. “Our investigation indicates that there is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position. The condition is rare, but can occur when the pedal mechanism becomes worn and, in certain conditions, the accelerator pedal may become harder to depress, slower to return or, in the worst case, stuck in a partially depressed position. Consistent with our commitment to the safety of our cars and our customers, we have initiated this voluntary recall action.”

Toyota’s accelerator pedal recall includes the following Toyota Division vehicles:

• 2009-2010 RAV4,
• 2009-2010 Corolla,
• 2009-2010 Matrix,
• 2005-2010 Avalon,
• 2007-2010 Camry,
• 2010 Highlander,
• 2007-2010 Tundra,
• 2008-2010 Sequoia

No Lexus Division or Scion vehicles are affected by this recall action. Also not affected are Toyota Prius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser and select Camry models, including all Camry hybrids. Toyota will continue to investigate incidents of unwanted acceleration and take appropriate measures to address any trends that are identified. Toyota owners who have questions or concerns should contact the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331.