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The 2022 Lexus NX Is Missing a Few Spot Welds, Recall Issued for 4,215 Units

Toyota made a name for itself by selling better automobiles than the American and European competition. Better as in built with more attention to detail and designed to be more reliable. But as it’s often the case in the automotive industry, Toyota doesn’t always deliver.
2022 Lexus NX crossover 48 photos
Photo: Lexus
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During a sampling inspection of a Lexus NX, the company discovered a few missing spot welds on the body panels around the left front shock absorber mounting area. Toyota immediately began to investigate the welding machine, concluding that it may not have recognized a work completion signal which should have been received from the process control board after completion. In this case, the welding machine doesn’t execute the next welding operation.

In parallel, the largest automaker in the world investigated other vehicle bodies for the same condition. According to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a small number of NXs had missing welds at the right or left front shock absorber mounting area.

Toyota notes that the left and right welding machines failed to recognize the signal from the process control board in five out of 9,242 tests. What’s more, a variation in the signal width may cause the machine to not recognize the signal. Another investigation was carried out, assessing the vehicle’s crashworthiness in a frontal collision with missing spot welds. Toyota says that the deformation of the cabin was smaller than in a properly welded vehicle. In other words, the missing welds don’t affect crash performance.

The NX was found to be stable during a drive test, but CAE analysis revealed that “cranks and breakage could occur on other spot welds and the body panels around the front shock absorber mounting areas.” Given time, the mounting panels may separate from the mounting area, resulting in a loss of stability, increasing the risk of a crash. A recall was promptly issued.

There are zero field technical reports and warranty claims to speak of at the moment of reporting. Be that as it may, Toyota is calling back 4,215 units of the NX for the 2022 model year. Affected vehicles were produced between April 7th, 2021 and January 26st, 2022 with the 250, 350, 350h, and 450h+ powertrains. Toyota is currently developing a remedy for this condition. Owners will be notified by mail between June 6th and June 12th.
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 Download: 2022 Lexus NX missing welds recall (PDF)

About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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