Toyota Recalls over 1 Million Vehicles for Problems

Toyota says it's recalling more than 1 million vehicles, including some late-model luxury cars, due to a pair of safety problems involving defective airbags and faulty windshield wipers.

The new recall involves about 752,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix cars sold in 2003 and 2004.

The second recall affects an estimated 270,000 Lexus IS models sold between 2006 and early 2012. If movement of the wipers is restricted by an external load, such as a buildup of heavy snow on the windshield, one or both of the wipers could become inoperative.”

A third of those vehicles had been sold in the States. In November, Toyota recalled another 2.8 million vehicles due to problems with hybrid and steering systems.

In all, Toyota recalls involved 5.3 million cars, trucks and crossovers in the U.S. market alone in 2012, well ahead of second-place Honda, which called back 3.9 million vehicles. Of the Detroit makers, GM recalled 1.5 million vehicles, landing third on the overall list last year.

But Toyota’s recall problems really began in 2009 when it ordered the first in an expanding series of safety actions related to unintended acceleration issues.
The maker was grilled by Congress and hammered by a series of record fines for illegally delaying safety-related recalls. But Toyota was hit again last year by another record fine due to another delay related to so-called carpet entrapment on its Lexus RX crossovers.

Global sales, meanwhile surged to 9.75 million last year, well ahead of second-place GM which sold 9.29 million vehicles.

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