Toyota Prius Recall - Special Service Campaign "60C" Steering Shaft Assembly issue

tmsusa

Hello from tmsusa. Today we provided information to our dealers and the NHTSA about a voluntary special service campaign Toyota will conduct for certain 2004 through early 2006 MY Prius involving the steering shaft assembly on those units.

Toyota dealers will receive detailed technical information around June 5, and we anticipate sending out owner notifications about one week after that. There are about 170,000 Prius vehicles involved, and the service procedure involves replacing a portion of the steering shaft assembly that could potentially become lose under certain operating conditions.

It's important to note that while we have not had any reported cases of this condition in any Prius vehicle, we want to initiate this action to ensure the highest levels of vehicle quality and customer satisfaction. We're also interested in getting accurate information out to consumers, customers and other Prius enthusiasts via nontraditional means, such as through important discussion forums like this.

More detailed information will be available from your Toyota dealer as well as our Customer Experience Center at 800-331-4331.

moparbad

Prius Recall

Anyone actually had a problem with steering or is this purely a cautios preventative measure by Toyota?

tmsusa

This is a voluntary action by Toyota Motor Sales and, yes, it is a proactive service initiative for one of our most important products. It's also a repair procedure that we will strongly recommend be done--We've seen some posts from owners elsewhere questioning whether they felt they wanted to take the time to get the SSC completed.

We think the actual repair will take about an hour. We regret any inconvenience, but there is no charge to the customer, and it would be smart to get it done.

There have been no reported incidents with Prius vehicles exhibiting this specific condition--No accidents attributable to same.

badgerfan

"Voluntary special service campaign"..."voluntary action"...."proactive service initiative"

Why is it so hard to simply call it what it is a........ (cough cough, choke choke)....... RECALL?

tmsusa

"Voluntary special service campaign"..."voluntary action"...."proactive service initiative"

Why is it so hard to simply call it what it is a........ (cough cough, choke choke)....... RECALL?

Take a look at the title of this topic. It is what it is, and that's what we called it.

c2rosa

According to the following article,
"The recall follows more than 30 complaints filed with Toyota since March 2004"

Here's the article in its entirety.

Toyota Recall Hits One Million Vehicles
The Associated Press

May 31, 2006

WASHINGTON – Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it is recalling nearly 1 million vehicles across the globe to replace faulty parts that could cause drivers to lose control of the steering wheel.

The recall affects about 986,000 vehicles across 10 models, including its popular Prius hybrid car. More than half of the affected vehicles are in Japan, company officials said.

The intermediate shafts and sliding yokes in the recalled cars lack the necessary strength and could distort or crack under strong pressure, causing drivers to lose control of the steering wheel, the Japanese automaker said in a statement.

In the United States, Toyota is recalling about 170,000 Prius models because the steering shaft assembly could become loose or crack under certain conditions.

Toyota said there have been no reported crashes or injuries connected to the problem in the United States. Owners are expected to be notified of the recall in mid-June.

In Japan, the recall involves a total of 565,756 vehicles manufactured under the Wish, Isis, Prius, Corolla, Corolla Runx, Corolla Fielder, Corolla Spacio, Allex and Ractis brands between September 2002 and November 2005, according to the statement.

The number in Japan included more than 300,000 Wish cars and more than 113,000 Prius cars.

Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong said the recall involves about 240,000 vehicles in Europe, including the Prius, Corolla and Avensis. An additional 10,000 vehicles were being recalled in other parts of the world, including China and New Zealand, he said.

The recall follows more than 30 complaints filed with Toyota since March 2004, the carmaker said. Toyota announced Japan's largest one-time recall in October, spending 15.5 billion yen ($139 million) to fix headlamps on 1.27 million vehicles. President Katsuaki Watanabe said earlier this month the automaker is planning to create a senior managing director position responsible for maintaining vehicle quality.

tmsusa

Thanks for that informative article c2rosa. Keep in mind that the SSC for which this topic is devoted is specific to the Prius in the U.S., about a 170,000 that have that particular steering intermediate shaft.

The same part is used in many other vehicles that Toyota produces world-wide but does not market in the United States. So there is a global campaign to address the affected units that exist in other countries, too.

It's quite possible that of those nearly 1 million vehicles across the world that have this particular steering component that Toyota in Japan was made aware of 30 "complaints" involving a suspect part found in common among these vehicles--but those concerns did not originate from Prius owners in the U.S.