Tidewater area drivers: Beware, more Toyota recalls!

It seems you can’t go 20 feet in the Tidewater area without seeing a Toyota vehicle.  Everyone and their brother seems to own one, which means that many folks in our area are affected by all of the Toyota recalls that have happened in the last year.

This month saw new recalls for the Lexus and Avalon vehicles, which together affect over 400,000 vehicles.  Several auto accidents have been attributed to vehicles with recall issues, and one issue Toyota even knew about for TWO YEARS before they decided to issue a recall.

Vehicles that are part of a Toyota recall this year alone:

• Avalon and Sequoia: steering problems
• Sienna: spare tire cable
• Tacoma: Drive shaft problem
• Prius: braking issues
• RAV4, Corolla, Matrix, Avalon, Camry, Highlander, Tundra, Sequoia: sticky accelerator pedals (the infamous ‘runaway Toyota’ problem)
• Lexus LX470 and Lexus LS: steering problems
• Lexus LS: valve springs
• Lexus HS250h: fuel safety in a crash
• Lexus GX460: stability software
• Lexus HS250h: braking issues

How many vehicles are affected by the list above?  About 9.5 million – and that is just in the United States!  Despite what Toyota is saying in endless advertising campaigns about its commitment to safety, there are clearly a good number of safety concerns out there – and perhaps many more we don’t yet know about.