Toyota Motor has warned consumers that more than 680,000 of its vehicles may have problems that could increase the risk of accidents, according to four recall notices released in less than a week.
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The Japanese automaker announced Monday that it would recall approximately 381,000 Toyota Tacoma pickup trucks from the 2022-2023 model year in the United States. Toyota said in a statement that weld residue on the ends of the trucks' rear axle assembly could cause nuts to fall off. Maybe a related part is separated.
“If a separation occurs, it may affect vehicle stability and braking performance, increasing the risk of an accident,” Toyota said.
Toyota's announcement on Monday follows a series of recalls over the past week affecting hundreds of thousands of its vehicles. The automaker recalled more than 280,000 SUVs and pickup trucks sold in the U.S. because of a transmission problem that could cause vehicles to continue driving even after shifting into neutral.
The defect affects the 2022-2024 model year gasoline and hybrid Toyota Tundra pickups, as well as the 2023-2024 Sequoia and 2022-2024 Lexus LX 600 SUVs.
Parts of the transmissions on these models may not disengage immediately when shifted into neutral, allowing some power to be transferred to the wheels. This could cause the vehicles to “inadvertently crawl forward at low speeds” and create an “increased risk of accidents,” Toyota said in a statement.
In addition to these larger recalls, the company has issued voluntary recall notices for approximately 19,000 midsize 2023 Toyota Mirai and Lexus LS, LC and ES models sold in the United States due to a software issue. About 4,000 Toyota Camry and Camry Hybrid midsize cars were also recalled because of improperly installed head restraints.
Toyota said it would notify consumers of any recall in late April. The company's dealers will fix the problems at no cost to consumers. Toyota customers can check whether their vehicles are affected at Toyota.com/recall or nhtsa.gov/recalls.
The series of recalls comes just a month after Toyota issued a “DO NOT DRIVE” warning for about 50,000 vehicles equipped with recalled Takata airbags. Last November, the company recalled over 1.8 million RAV4 crossover SUVs due to fire risks related to unsafe replacement batteries.