TOKYO — The Toyota Motor Company announced a global recall of 1.53 million vehicles on Thursday because of brake and fuel pump problems, but stressed that the repairs reflected a companywide effort to be more proactive in addressing potential flaws. þþIn the United States, the recall includes Lexus and Avalon models. þþToyota, the world’s largest automaker, will call back about 750,000 cars in North America, and 599,000 cars in Japan, mostly models made from 2004 to 2006, the automaker said. About 140,000 cars in the rest of Asia and Australia, and 50,000 cars in Europe, also are being recalled. þþQuality at Toyota has come under the spotlight after the automaker recalled about 8.5 million cars and trucks worldwide over a range of problems, including gas pedals that could jam or get stuck under floor mats, causing vehicles to speed out of control. The size of the earlier recalls, as well as Toyota’s slow handling of recall procedures, was widely criticized by United States policy makers and triggered a series of Congressional hearings. þþThe president of the company, Akio Toyoda, subsequently promised to improve quality and customer service, including paying more attention to customer complaints and speeding up recall decisions. In February, the automaker set up a special global committee to oversee quality, led by Mr. Toyoda. þþ“Every time we announce a recall, that is a step toward increasing quality,” a spokesman for Toyota in Tokyo, Paul Nolasco, said Thursday. The pedal-related recalls had “brought it home to Toyota that we need to refocus on quality,” he said. þþMost of vehicles in Thursday’s recall need to be fixed for a problem in the brakes’ master cylinder, Mr. Nolasco said. The cylinder, which contains brake fluid, could leak under certain circumstances, causing a loss in braking power. þþToyota has also found an electrical fault with the fuel pump that could cause the engine to stall, Mr. Nolasco said. That defect was concentrated in models sold in Japan. þþThe automaker is not aware of any accidents linked to these problems, he said. þþModels affected in the United States include the 2005-6 Avalon; 2004-6 non-hybrid Highlander and Lexus RX330; and 2006 Lexus GS300, IS250 and IS350 vehicles, according to a company release. þþOwners will be notified by mailings beginning early next month, and dealers will replace part of the brake’s master cylinder free of charge, Toyota said. þþIn Japan, the recall includes the Crown, Crown Majesta, Harrier, Mark X, Alphard, Kluger, Lexus GX 350, Lexus IS250, and Lexus IS350. þþThe latest recall comes as Toyota races to fix cars affected by its gas-pedal and floor-mat recalls, the first of which was announced in November last year. þþEarlier this month, Toyota said its dealers had repaired 3.7 million of the 6 million vehicles affected in the United States in those recalls, or about 65 percent of the total. In April, Toyota agreed to pay a record $16.4 million fine to United States regulators for waiting too long to initiate a recall after learning that its accelerator pedals contained a defect.þ
Source: NY Times
