Toyota Cites Stuck Accelerator Risk For Big Recall

Right now Toyota is calling it a “safety advisory”, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) may upgrade this to an official recall. The potential problem lies with unsecured or mismatched floor mats in Toyota vehicles that may interfere with the accelerator pedal. You can read the official statement from Toyota and the list of affected vehicles after the jump.

According to the statement, “A stuck open accelerator pedal may result in very high vehicle speeds and make it difficult to stop the vehicle, which could cause a crash, serious injury or death.”

Until Toyota develops a remedy, Toyota is asking owners of specific Toyota and Lexus models to take out any removable driver’s floor mat and NOT replace it with any other floor mat.

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Uh oh, bad news for any of you out there that own a Lotus Elise, and Exige or even a Tesla Roadster (you lucky people), seems there’s a recall on. According to the NHTSA, on some Lotus Elise, Exige and Tesla Roadsters, the rear hub flange bolts that have been deemed defective. The three vehicles’ bolts may be under-torqued and could become loose, meaning suspension bits could work loose (I will not go into detail about why this would be bad, CarReview readers are brighter than that).

You’re also bright enough to already know that the all-electric Tesla Roadster is based on the Lotus Elise, hence the recall effects Cali’s finest eco sportscar as well as those two fine products from Hethel, England.

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Uh-oh, another recall, and this is a big one.

Toyota, largest automaker in the world has to recall one of its most popular models, the Yaris. As a matter of fact, they are recalling 1.3 million of the little buggers, so this is a pretty big deal (BTW, just what IS the plural of Yaris? Is it Yarii? Or is it both singular and plural, like moose?). A lot of people find the Yaris an unattractive ride, but a lot of people, especially women, we’ve noticed, are really taken by its cuteness and proportions. It’s also inexpensive, well laid out on the inside gets great mileage and has been a big hit for the company. So if you own a Yaris, read on.

On Wednesday Toyota said the recall involves 134,900 of them residing in the United States. The recall is due to a seatbelt defect. In extreme front-crash situations, the defective seatbelt unit could cause a foam pad to ignite. However, no cases of fire have been reported to Toyota or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The recall includes 2006 and 2007 model year Yaris vehicles. Owners will be notified of the recall next week via a letter from Toyota.

Well, we guess the good news is that” … no cases of fire have been reported … “, but still, if you own a Yaris, and you don’t hear from Toyota, call up your dealer.

Safety first kids, safety first.

Source: LeftLaneNews

OK, now I’m not so jealous anymore, or at least a little less.

It seems that there’s some problems with two of the prettiest cars you can buy in America at the moment.

Number one, the Alfa Romeo 8c Competizione, with all those luscious curves and slightly retro styling that hearkens back to when Alfa was a racing marques to be feared has some issues. It seems that some of the Alfas left the factory with incorrectly torqued front and rear suspension upper and lower ball joint nuts. Oops! That could be a problem.

Number two is the same issue affecting MY 2008 Maserati Gran Turismo and Quattroporte which share the same platform with the Alfa.

According to the Maserati factory, the incorrectly torqued ball joint nuts may loosen with consequent steering wheel vibration, a growing metallic noise and progressive loss of driving precision in the transients. If you continue to use the vehicle in these conditions, it may lead to damage of the suspension lever, which in the long term and depending on vehicle usage, may cause the ball joint/suspension arm to break.

So, if you’re one of the 7,912 Maseratis and Alfa 8c Competiziones to be recalled in the States, contact your dealer or contact Maserati for more information at 1-201-816-2600.

Source: CarScoop