World’s top automaker, Toyota seems to be again in trouble with safety issues in its cars. Just recently it was reported that the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating a large batch of Camry Hybrids for some braking issues and now, Toyota has reportedly stopped selling many cars in US to refrain spreading potentially unsafe cars in the market.
Toyota Motors has ordered all its official dealership outlets in North American to stop the sale of six very popular Toyota models. The reason behind this is that these cars feature heated seats with a certain type of fabric that does not abide by the U.S. safety codes and also could potentially catch fire.
According to a U.S. spokesperson, this order involves 36,000 cars, minivans and trucks. Apart from the US, a large number of Toyota vehicles are also affected by this in the car markets of Mexico, Canada, Israel, Korea and other nations, but the total number of these vehicles is still not available.
The spokesperson pointed out that so far no such incidents of fires or injuries have been reported. However Toyota cannot legally sell such vehicles that do not comply with the U.S. safety criteria.
The 6 popular models from Toyota that are involved in this order are namely, Camry, Avalon, Sienna and Tacoma that feature heated seats that were manufactured between 2013 and 2014 model years, and the Corolla and Tundra vehicles of the 2014 make. All these car models are extremely popular in the US as well as the world. The Toyota Camry is the topmost selling vehicle in U.S that sold over 408,000 units last year.
It was further clarified that a particular soft material under the seat covers of the heated seats does not comply with the U.S. safety codes.
The spokesperson added that Toyota is yet to figure out how long the rectification of all these vehicles will take. A replacement material is already being manufactured and being installed in the forthcoming cars. The Toyota dealers will use the material to rectify the problem of the cars in their sticks. He said that it should not take long to get the material replaced and make the changes, though the exact time frame cannot be told right now.
As for the affected cars already on the road, Toyota spokesperson said that a recall is not necessary, as no reports of fires or potential incidents have been registered.
All the affected Toyota vehicles were manufactured in U.S, while a number of vehicles were also exported to South Korea. The safety regulators in Korea detected the problem after disassembling the seats and analyzing each individual fabric. The U.S. safety standards need all fabrics to resist fire up to a level and one particular fabric failed to meet the standards.
Toyota is the auto leader in the globe and has been struggling to get back its once impeccable reputation for superior safety and quality after announcing a series of massive global recalls over the last few years.
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