Toyota to recall 138,000 Lexus cars in U.S.
First it was sudden acceleration, and now it’s the potential for an unexpected stall.
Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday that it has begun the procedure to recall Lexus cars with faulty engine valve springs that could cause the vehicles to stall.
Over the last year, Toyota has recalled about 8 million vehicles worldwide for a variety of problems, including sticky gas pedals and defective floor mats that both were linked to incidents of unintended acceleration.
On Friday, Toyota said it told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of its intention to file a Defect Information Report for about 138,000 Lexus vehicles powered by 4.6- and 5.0-liter V8 and 3.5-liter V6 engines.
The problem affects 2006, 2007 and 2008 GS, IS and LS models in the United States. The formal report will be filed next week.
No vehicles from the 2009 and 2010 model years are affected.
Toyota said during the manufacturing process, the valve springs were contaminated with an unidentified “foreign material.”
The defect could cause abnormal engine noise and in some instance cause the engine to stop while the vehicle is in operation.
Toyota’s Lexus division said it has received no reports of accidents or injuries related to this condition.
Toyota will send owners of the vehicles a recall notice. It said owners should contact their local Lexus dealer to have their engines checked out and repaired after they receive the notification. Lexus will replace the engine’s valve springs.
The automaker said operators can continue to drive their vehicles. But it added that if symptoms such as vibration, rough idling, unusual engine sounds or poor performance occur, they should take the vehicle to a Lexus dealer for service.
The steady string of recalls have hurt the automaker’s market position in the U.S. Of the major automakers, Toyota posted the smallest gains so far this year.
Its overall sales, including the Lexus and Scion brands, rose 9.9% to 846,542 through the first half of 2010. Its market share has fallen to 15.1% from 16% in the first half of 2009.
