TORRANCE, Calif. — Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. (TMS), late last week announced that it will conduct a safety recall involving certain 2009 Camry and 2009 to certain 2011 Venza vehicles to replace the stop lamp switch. Approximately 70,500 Camry and 116,000 Venza vehicles are covered by this recall.
During installation of the contact-type stop lamp switch on one of the North American assembly lines, silicon grease may have reached the inside of the switch and caused an increase in electrical resistance. If this occurs, warning lamps on the instrument panel may be illuminated, the vehicle may not start, or the shift lever may not shift from the “Park” position. In some cases, the vehicle stop lamps may become inoperative.
Toyota is currently obtaining the necessary replacement parts. Once the replacement parts have been produced, we will send a notification by first class mail advising owners to make an appointment with an authorized Toyota dealer to replace the stop lamp switch at no charge. The repair will take approximately 30 minutes depending upon the dealer’s work schedule.
Additionally, certain 2005 to early 2009 Tacoma vehicles will be recalled to replace the steering wheel spiral cable assembly. Approximately 495,000 Tacoma vehicles are covered by this recall.
Due to the combination of steering wheel spiral cable design and characteristics unique to the Tacoma chassis, friction between the spiral cable and the retainer in the steering wheel spiral cable assembly may occur in some vehicles. Friction over time may result in loss of connectivity to the driver’s air bag module. If connectivity is lost, the air bag warning lamp on the instrument panel will remain illuminated after starting the vehicle and the driver’s air bag may be deactivated, preventing deployment in the event of a crash.
Toyota is currently obtaining the necessary replacement parts. Once the replacement parts are available, we will notify owners. In the interim, owners of the involved vehicles will be notified by first class mail in early April, 2012. The interim notification letter will advise owners of this safety recall, that they will receive a future notice once the replacement parts are available, and what to do if they experience this condition. The repair will take approximately 30 minutes depending upon the dealer’s work schedule.
No other Toyota vehicles are involved nor these models distributed outside the North American market. Toyota is not aware of any accidents or injuries caused by these two conditions.
Detailed information is available to customers at www.toyota.com/recall and the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331.
