Photo: Toyota
Toyota has recently announced that it is recalling 310,000 units of the FJ Cruiser SUV. The recall, which concerns a seat belt anchor point issue, affects vehicles belonging to model years 2007 to 2013 - this basically means all the production years of the vehicle.
The problem is that the seat belt retractors can become loose due to wear, which seriously increases the risk of injury in the event of a crash.
Here’s Toyota’s explanation: “The seatbelt retractors for the driver and front passenger seat belts are mounted in the rear doors (access doors) of the vehicle. Due to insufficient strength of the rear door panel, cracks may develop over an extended period of time if the rear door is repeatedly and forcefully closed. If cracks occur in the panel around the lower seatbelt retractor anchor, the seatbelt retractor may become detached.”
About two thirds of the FJ Cruisers can be found in the US. Toyota claims that it is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the problem.
Owners of the affected vehicles will receive notification letters in the near future. Toyota hasn’t offered any solution for the issue so far, only saying that its dealers will fix the vehicles free of charge.
The FJ Cruiser recall is the second major campaign of this kind for Toyota in 2013. Back in January, the carmaker has called back 907,000 units of the Toyota Corolla due to an airbag problem, as well as 385,000 Lexus IS vehicles that dealt with a wiper issue. This means that Toyota has already recalled 1.6 million cars this year.
Nevertheless, another January report showed that Toyota had regained its global sales crown, becoming the Number One automaker in the world once again.
Here’s Toyota’s explanation: “The seatbelt retractors for the driver and front passenger seat belts are mounted in the rear doors (access doors) of the vehicle. Due to insufficient strength of the rear door panel, cracks may develop over an extended period of time if the rear door is repeatedly and forcefully closed. If cracks occur in the panel around the lower seatbelt retractor anchor, the seatbelt retractor may become detached.”
About two thirds of the FJ Cruisers can be found in the US. Toyota claims that it is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the problem.
Owners of the affected vehicles will receive notification letters in the near future. Toyota hasn’t offered any solution for the issue so far, only saying that its dealers will fix the vehicles free of charge.
The FJ Cruiser recall is the second major campaign of this kind for Toyota in 2013. Back in January, the carmaker has called back 907,000 units of the Toyota Corolla due to an airbag problem, as well as 385,000 Lexus IS vehicles that dealt with a wiper issue. This means that Toyota has already recalled 1.6 million cars this year.
Nevertheless, another January report showed that Toyota had regained its global sales crown, becoming the Number One automaker in the world once again.
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