Toyota to Recall 1.1 Million U.S. Matrix, Corolla Models on Stalling Risk

[marmar]

Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker, will recall about 1.13 million Corolla and Matrix cars for an engine defect that U.S. regulators said could cause stalling “at any speed without warning.”

Toyota said today in a statement that it will recall the vehicles for the model years 2005 to 2008 in the U.S. and Canada following at least three reported accidents linked to the defect.

The action adds to record recalls in the past year by Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota, including more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for flaws related to unintended acceleration.

“This is another bump in the road while Toyota is trying to recover their reputation,” auto analyst Rebecca Lindland of IHS Automotive in Lexington, Massachusetts, said in an interview. “It will give people who are not Toyota loyalists another reason not to buy the brand.”

Toyota tested 32 of the engine components and found four had cracking after thermal-shocking tests, said John Hanson, a spokesman at the U.S. sales unit in Torrance, California.

“Toyota concluded that this problem would likely continue to occur, and, therefore, in order to address customer concerns, decided to conduct a voluntary safety recall of all vehicles within the affected range,” Chris Santucci, Toyota Motor North America’s manager of technical and regulatory affairs, wrote today in a letter to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. ..............(more)

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