Recall Friday: Guess Who Gets A Nick on the Chin Again?

Well, it is only a small recall this time. But 160 Solaras get the red carpet treatment back to the dealerships to fix an errant side airbag installation.

There were no injuries or reports of failure, simply Toyota doing the responsible thing and fixing something they know is wrong. We have to a least tip our hats to them for doing the right thing.

Press Release:

Torrance, CA - Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., will launch a voluntary Safety Recall involving 160 2007 Camry Solara coupes. The curtain side airbag (CSA) front tether strap located in each of the front pillars may have been incorrectly routed. If the tether strap is not correctly routed, the front side of the CSA may not deploy as designed. There have been no accidents, deaths or injuries reported related to this condition.

The affected Camry Solara coupes were produced from late July 2006 to early August 2006. Toyota will mail to owners of the involved vehicles a Safety Recall notification via first class mail in late December.

Owners are requested to contact their local Toyota dealer to inspect and, if necessary, reroute the tether straps. Inspection and repair will be done at no charge to the owners of the vehicle and will take approximately 30 minutes, depending on the dealer's work schedule.

Customers with questions or concerns should contact the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331.





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99gs400 - 12/15/2006 4:47:02 PM

+5 Boost

Only 160 ? WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL ? IS THIS POST EVEN NECCESSARY ? LET THIS BE A 1000 POST FLAME WAR, lets beginnnnnnnnnnnn !!!

flozel1 - 12/15/2006 5:55:23 PM

+2 Boost

It's only 160 I know, but you see this appears to be the Autospies topic of choice. You know... "let's scour the internet for anything...ANYTHING we can find that would blast evil Toyota's reputation".

Recalls happen to all manufacturers and Toyota probably has the least (judging by CS reviews and customer satisfaction), but if you were to rely solely on Autospies bloggers you'd figure ONLY Toyota gets them. Really bright people here.

S4cabriofoxone - 12/16/2006 5:01:22 PM

-1 Boost

LOL I have to agree with you.

But, this is truly making a dent in Toyota lately. All anyone talks about is Toyota quality blah blah blah, but we're seeing recall after recall...

S4cabriofoxone - 12/16/2006 5:01:47 PM

0 Boost

Oh and, this year Toyota actually had the MOST recalls, actually.

IamEvilHomer - 12/16/2006 10:58:51 PM

0 Boost

Toyota has to start working on reliablity :)

EL34 - 12/15/2006 4:47:38 PM

+1 Boost

They should recall the current Solara on styling alone, but I guess it's a good chick car and I did like the previous Solara on styling much better.

S4cabriofoxone - 12/16/2006 5:02:22 PM

-1 Boost

The last Solara was really boring, now this one's really ugly.

Can't they just find the perfect medium?

silverarrow2 - 12/16/2006 10:18:42 PM

0 Boost

Why do you guys even care?

The darn thing is made for women or seniors any way.

It is also a very gay friendly car.

AUDIMAN4 - 12/15/2006 4:57:44 PM

0 Boost

HAHAHA this is so funny.

mstangpny07 - 12/15/2006 5:02:39 PM

0 Boost

Lovely. I would expect at least from Toyota that the airbags would be installed correctly. Guess not.

Rupert - 12/15/2006 6:02:00 PM

0 Boost

BIAS

oh wait this topic has nothing to do with that.
sooo ummmm...what do I say now? oh yeah.

CONSPIRACY!!!*
or
TOYOTA SUCKS!!!*
GERMAN RULES!!!*
being a fanboy for a day is quite fun.*







*May not be true.

Rupert - 12/16/2006 11:30:10 AM

0 Boost

i know...did the *may not be true* catch your eye at all? i know scion is made by toyota, just bias seems to be today's buzzword.

DieselRules - 12/15/2006 6:04:16 PM

-4 Boost

"Welcome New Employees to your life as a Toyota Assembly-Line Technician.
For your first assignment, you will be installing the air-bags into cars destined for the United States of America.
If you work long hours, 7 days a week, for 10 years, then you may even be able to purchase an automobile of your own!
And if you are a good technician, then after 20 years of service you can install the airbags in the cars sold to your fellow country-men.
Now take your instructions and GET TO WORK!
And remember, you must read the instructions on your own time, such as coffee and lunch-breaks.
GO!"

rack - 12/15/2006 6:26:02 PM

+6 Boost

Is diesel rules talking about he people in Kentucky? Because that is where the solara is produced. And shame on the people who greened that moronic post.

DieselRules - 12/15/2006 7:11:19 PM

-2 Boost

It was a joke.
The engineers in Japan are paid the same as in the US, and I suspect that the assembly-line workers are paid well too!

You guys need to relax ...

XYZZ - 12/16/2006 5:42:29 AM

0 Boost

it was a POOR joke.

but if you were describing hard working, low paid wage slaves in Korea, making the BEST PROFITS for Gumby Motors, it mite've been a half-decent joke.

kart1 - 12/15/2006 6:40:13 PM

+6 Boost

Autospies change your name to: Toyota Bashing central. 160 voluntary recalls - is this enough to make news???

rocker - 12/17/2006 12:54:23 AM

-1 Boost

That is how many 2007 Solaras have been sold YTD. So it is a 100% recall. Not laughing.

flozel1 - 12/15/2006 6:50:31 PM

+2 Boost

Dude...like rack below said, Solaras are assembled in Kentucky.

webguy - 12/15/2006 7:05:34 PM

+6 Boost

160 "recalls" with no reports of incident isn’t a recall, it’s a service bulletin. The headline is indeed misleading(again); but the story is a compliment to Toyota. How many automotive companies would A.) Bother releasing any news that pointed to a *potential* problem with only 160 cars, or B.) Even caught the problem in the first place? Most companies continue to ignore problems well after 160 reports of a problem. Only national news broadcasts seem to bring it to the attention of company decision makers; which seems to be the preferred method of discovering them.

Recalls are a double-edged sword... are you being responsible or admitting quality problems? American companies have often picked the latter, citing not only monetary costs, but brand image costs as well. While there are clearly some growing pains at Toyota, they’re taking the less traveled responsible route with their recalls. For that, I applaud them.

DieselRules - 12/15/2006 7:21:20 PM

+3 Boost

Wrong, if its safety related, then it demands a recall.
Toyota did the right thing.
Its not a big deal.
All cars have design defects, and most cars have some assembly defects (defect meaning that something "should be better", but it doesn't mean that it doesn't work)
Anybody who thinks something as complex as a modern automobile can have a perfect design and/or perfect assembly is extremely naive.
Any car-maker who spends the time to design "the perfect car" will go broke, because you need sales revenue, and the perfect car will take forever to design.

I'm an engineer. Engineering is the applied art of compromise between conflicting demands (time, cost, performance, longevity, reliability, fault-tolerance, manufacturability, testability, servicability, etc.)

In this case the small number means that the issue was caught early and dealt with quickly.
Good for Toyota.
Its nice to see them taking customer safety into consideration over possible negative PR.

I personally see recalls as a sign that the manufacturer cares about us, the car buyers!

chewy - 12/15/2006 8:07:13 PM

-2 Boost

Yet another Toyota recall.

neutral - 12/15/2006 9:10:44 PM

+5 Boost

So what, big deal. Once again, a tiny recall that hurt no-one. I hope everyone here who bitches about ANY automaker who has issued a recall lives a perfect life. I swear, some of you guys really have no idea what it takes to build any complex device, much less a car. I am not even a Toyota fan, but as with all pieces of extremely complex machinery, there are going to be things that are overlooked. This isn't even a big deal.

However, I do find it necessary that the recalls of Toyota (as with every automaker) are posted on this site. This way the "invincibility" of Toyota, or VW, or BMW, or Honda (for all you different fanboys) can be called out.

2JZSoarer - 12/15/2006 9:24:38 PM

+1 Boost

This is a voluntary recall,in Toyota's defence I would have to say that at least Toyota is doing a good job in finding these problems before anyone gets hurt,unlike the other companies!!

answer - 12/15/2006 11:49:39 PM

+1 Boost

Where are these reports of which you speak?

chewy - 12/16/2006 2:04:56 AM

+2 Boost

Toyota recall= Excellent news. Toyotas are the best. Recalls are amazing.

Other manufacturer recall= What a POS unsafe POS vehicle.

Can't have it both ways.

Ironman273 - 12/16/2006 11:02:43 AM

+4 Boost

Toyota recalls 160 vehicles before even 1 problem is reported=Excellent news
Other manufacturer recalls millions of vehicles after thousands of reports=What a POS unsafe POS vehicle

DieselRules - 12/16/2006 2:19:02 PM

+3 Boost

Ironman:
My NB TDI was recalled because:
"1 of several clips holding a small wiring harness to the cowl was looser than designed.
If that 1 clip came loose,
AND IF that cable hung down (and stretched a bit)
AND IF it rubbed on the engine a long time,
AND IF it shorted out, there was a REMOTE CHANCE that somewhere down the road a few years it could cause a fire."
There was never any indication of this EVER happening.
VW is concerned about customer safety.

GM Safari Vans: the wiring for the passenger-side power windows and locks runs ABOVE the engine, falls onto the engine within a year or 2, shorts out within another year, and the PW and PL don't work on almost EVERY one of those vans (and who knows how many caught fire!).
But there will never be a recall, because that's on par for what people EXPECT from GM.
German car buyers are very picky and don't put up with that BS , hence more complaints for fewer problems.

I applaud Toyota for doing the right thing.

AmazingBimmer - 12/16/2006 1:51:18 PM

-4 Boost

please see how many recalls there are for vw. thats embarassing for you

mstangpny07 - 12/16/2006 2:12:41 PM

+4 Boost

I get recalls every day for my SAAB. They're so minor, I don't even bother, unless I have a service appointment coming up.

fuzion - 12/16/2006 4:49:24 PM

+1 Boost

for the love of christ 009 post something good.. I have yet to find your stories useful or informative, just seems like crap and useless tidbits.

S4cabriofoxone - 12/17/2006 1:13:28 AM

+1 Boost

Woah, AmazingBimmer!

The lone Audi hater is still there!

I thought you'd left forever...?

No, only in my dreams.

awsomeaudi - 12/17/2006 11:25:16 AM

+1 Boost

MAKE THE 'O7 CAMRY COUPE ALREADY AND DITCH THE SOLARA

SilverAero - 12/18/2006 2:24:46 AM

-1 Boost

Funny, i don't think a single Toyota or Lexus fan commented on this post. Did they all run and hide? I think the reason this topic was choosen is because on so many forums some body mentions toyotas bulletproof reliablility and this puts things into perspective, no assumptions here, the recalls are a fact.

XYZZ - 12/18/2006 5:07:20 AM

+2 Boost

"...i don't think a single Toyota or Lexus fan commented on this post."

because you are BLIND, and/or INCAPABLE of thinking.
there were a few. most of us haven't considered this thread worth wasting time on.

160 units. zero injuries or even complaints. only the audi-IDIOT thot it was even newsworthy.

XYZZ - 12/20/2006 3:58:22 AM

+1 Boost

every time i see pics of the C-class, i think to myself, "what makes this thing any better than a corolla?"

if toyota were to offer V6s in the corolla, it'd be a runaway winner!

they could EVEN rebadge these as a lexus direct competitor to Cs, and GET AWAY WITH IT. it IS better put together and FAR more reliable. (it ONLY lacks a V6 option. ALL lexi have at least a V6.)