Latest News
The Best Towing Trucks for Under $20,000
Toyota announced a recall of some 280,000 SUVs and trucks for transmissions that may allow the vehicle to “creep forward” while in neutral.
Toyota Transmission Troubles
Toyota has announced a recall of roughly 280,000 Toyota Tundra, Sequoia, and Lexus LX 600, model years 2022 through 2024, for problems related to the vehicles’ transmissions (Lexus is Toyota’s luxury arm).
Toyota explained the issue as follows: “Certain parts of the transmission may not immediately disengage when the vehicle is shifted to the neutral position. This can allow some engine power to continue to be transferred to the wheels and can allow the vehicle to inadvertently creep forward at a low speed when it is on a flat surface and no brakes are applied, leading to an increased risk of a crash.”
The company said in a statement that the fix for the problem will be addressed via updates to the transmission software, adding that notices will go out to affected customers by late April 2024.
Trending in the Wrong Direction
Toyota’s vaunted reputation for reliability is at stake as the above is just one of a number of recently announced recalls. Concurrent recalls included one for approximately 19,000 vehicles (Lexus LS, LC, and ES models 2023-24) relating to those vehicles’ digital rearview mirrors not displaying correctly within the time proscribed by US regulators. Another announced recall affects some 4,000 vehicles Toyota Camry and Camry Hybrids for a problem involving the rear head restraints on fold-down seats posing a “risk of injury during certain collisions.” These recalls come atop a December recall of nearly 1 million vehicles across 15 Toyota and Lexus models relating to passenger-side airbags not deploying as intended.
Topping things off, Toyota is also in the midst of a developing emissions scandal which began with Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu late last year. Per Reuters reporting, this emission scandal has now spread to Toyota proper as the Japanese transportation ministry weighs action against the company for alleged emissions cheating involving their Land Cruiser SUV, HiAce vans, and forklifts (Toyota is the world’s leader in forklift truck manufacture).
