Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, continues to suffer design problems with its vehicles. A few years ago, Toyota found itself embroiled in a public relations nightmare when its cars began experiencing unintended acceleration. As a result, Toyota issued a massive recall.
Toyota has recalled vehicles for other reasons as well. More recently, Toyota announced a recall of 1.3 million cars around the globe for two separate defects. The first recall was of 752,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles in the United States; according to Toyota, the airbags could inadvertently deploy. In a second recall, about 270,000 Lexus IS sedans from the 2006 to 2012 model years have been recalled to check for a loose nut on the front wipers.
Toyota says the air bag control module for the supplemental restraint system in the Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles could have been manufactured with faulty circuit boards. If it malfunctions, it could cause a short, causing a buildup of heat or potentially causing the air bags or seat belt pretensioners to deploy when there has not been a crash. The air bag control module failure has so far caused injuries in approximately 18 cases. Regarding the wiper blades on the Lexus IS, the loose nut could cause the wipers to fail if they encounter a heavy load that puts them under pressure, like the buildup of snow.
These recent Toyota recalls are the third since October to involve more than a million cars, and it comes as the company tries to recover from a damaged reputation. Toyota is also recalling Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles in Japan, Canada, and Mexico.
If you or someone you know have been injured by a defective vehicle, contact the attorneys at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner by calling (713) 222-7211 or 713-222-7211.