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Toyota Issues Car Recall for Faulty Part

Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling 418,570 vehicles over a faulty engine part.
The affected cars include 268,570 vehicles sold in Japan across 12 models manufactured in 2001, including Corollas, the compact cars Vitz and Platz, and the hybrid Toyota Prius. The recall for Japan also affects about 150,000 cars sold overseas, primarily in the U.S. and Canada. America and Canada make up a significant market for those buying Japanese-made cars overseas.

The cars subject to the recall were, again, made in 2001. In the U.S., 24,490 Echo and Yaris cars, as well as 8,476 Prius vehicles are affected by the recall. The faulty part may cause an oil leak and lead to a complete seizure of the engines. Toyota has gone to great lengths to assure that an immediate danger does not exist, and says no accidents have been reported over the fault. The company will also fix 3,232 Toyota and Hino vans manufactured in 2004-2005 whose engines may have a faulty turbine blade.

The recall was issued after three Toyota officials were investigated for alleged professional negligence. They were accused of not issuing needed recalls for eight years and for not fixing a defect that may have caused an accident. The Japanese auto industry does lots of business in Asia, and has been trying to make its way into China (like the rest of the world`s automakers). What this would do for future Toyota sales was not apparent at this time, but it will likely have a negative effect on the Nikkei stock exchange average.