Big Toyota recall over steering, water pump woes

A Toyota Prius C / Toyota Motor Sales

TOKYO Toyota Motor Corp. says it's recalling 2.77 million vehicles around the world for a steering shaft defect that may result in faulty steering and a water pump problem.

Japan's top automaker said no accidents have been reported related to these two problems announced Wednesday.

Some 1.51 million vehicles are being recalled for the steering defect in Japan and 1.25 million vehicles abroad, including 670,000 in the U.S.

Affected models include the Prius hybrid, Corolla, Wish and other models produced in Japan from 2000 to last year, and from 2000 to 2009 overseas.

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Toyota is also recalling 630,000 vehicles spanning five hybrid models, including the Prius, for a defective water pump.

Last month, Toyota had a recall for faulty power-window switches.

[j.jconsultants]

Recalling 12 y old vehicles is re establishing the contacts with old customers. Presenting this much quality consciousness helps gaining the confidence of their old customers, making them to buy a new Toyato and also to bring in more new customers. Compared to a marketing budget, this recalling expenses would be less and effectively result in new car sales

[996Ducati]

Oh what a feeling......I stopped buying Toyotas in the early 90's because they were becoming less reliable and more expensive to repair--not to mention they drive and handle like appliances.

[kbbpll]

If this is the pinion shaft nuts recall for 2001-2003 Prius, that was issued almost a year ago. The nuts "may become loose if the steering wheel is repeatedly and strongly turned to the full-lock position". This could result in "increased steering effort when making a left turn". I didn't see it as a big deal.

[PCL1]

Why would they recall 12 year old cars for a water pump problem? If there's a reliability issue, they could have just slapped an extended warranty on that repair and avoided "fixing" cars that might have gone through the rest of their lives without a problem.

[tsigili]

One thing I would absolutely do, if I were the president of this country........I would demand that car makers improve their product quality and reliability, or have legislation passed that would prohibit new models without government approval of engineering designs of every aspect of the new models.

There is not a single car maker, under ANY brand, that hasn't had, major recalls, and more than one of them, in the last 2 yrs.

That simply says, the industry is doing a BAD job.

[marine1957]

You might consider that I have owned a Mercury Mystique for 16 years and driven it some 103,000 miles and it still gets 33.1 MPG on the highway.
The exhaust system is the original.
The water pump is the original.
The power steering is the original.
The starter motor is the original.
The air conditioning is original.
Ford replaced the electric window module 10 years ago and have had no further problems.
Eight years ago, Ford replaced the front bearings and have had no further problems.
My boy and I replaced the injectors though no problem was evident.
My boy replaced the trunk lid pistons which were weak.

During the same mileage and only 13 years, my '73 Ford Torino had 3 water pumps, two starters, 3 carb. overhauls, a new carb., and an engine rebuild.

I would conclude that Ford's mfg. quality has improved markedly in the last 39 years!

[enlightenu]

Tsigli, just more government oversight you are calling for that you liberals love so much. Cars are better now than they have ever been since they were invented. They are safer and more reliable than at any time in history.