[volkman10]

Toyota to recall nearly 45,000 Innovas.

Toyota will replace a fault with a cable mounted on the steering of all Innovas made between Feb 2005 and Dec 2008.

Toyota has announced that it will be recalling almost 45,000 units of the Innova that were manufactured between February 2005 and December 2008. These models could have a faulty spiral cable mounted on the steering wheel. According to a company spokesman, the error would result in the airbag warning lamp on the instrument cluster to stay lit and it is also likely the airbag may be deactivated.

http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-new...as-382312.aspx

[volkman10]

The recall is a part of a global exercise as the company plans to fix 6.58 million vehicles around the world which may suffer from faults in steering and seats. This will be one of the largest vehicle recalls to date in the global auto industry.

http://auto.economictimes.indiatimes...nnova/33506121

[Warwithwheels]

Our Innova V from the 2005 batch issue has this issue. According to the dealer fella, the fault in the cable would lead to the Driverside airbag becoming non functional. It may also prevent the horn pad from working.

It is really annoying to see the red Airbag warning light flash whenever the vehicle is on. Toyota ASC quoted around 15k to fix it. But we did not get it fixed, waiting for a recall.

It is really saddening to know that it took almost close to 10 years to identify that its a faulty part. Anyway happy that they have finally agreed to replace it!

[RYP]

Seriously a decade?. How come these things work perfectly during crash tests and go kaput on 6.5 million vehicles globally. Hope there weren't any casualties due to non-deployment of airbag during a crash.

[maheshramaling]

This is what the Hindu article says;

The campaign has been announced due to an error in the spiral cable mounted on the steering wheel. This will lead to continuous illumination of an airbag warning lamp on the instrument cluster giving prior indication of a problem to the customer. In addition, the driver’s airbag may get deactivated,” the company said.

Link to the Article: http://www.thehindu.com/business/Ind...?homepage=true

[sansvk]

The airbag warning lamp staying on is ok, but the airbag getting deactivated, that's serious. Cant believe a company of Toyota's stature ignoring safety issues with Brake pedals and now Airbags. Reminds me that all company's operate to make profits rather than serve.

[sr_1445]

There's a saying : " The greater the power, the greater the responsibility."
I think auto giants(Especially the ones as large as Toyota,GM,VW,etc.) need to take this very seriously. Having huge market share means you have huge responsibility.I own an Innova and although I'm not going to be affected by this recall, I really am disappointed with Toyota for being so late. Consumers put their faith into auto giants because of the Goodwill & Reputation these companies enjoy, issuing a recall as serious as a safety system malfunction almost after a decade is a serious blow to this faith.
Isn't Toyota supposed to be the holy grail of reliability?

[Me-hul]

Originally Posted by sansvk

The airbag warning lamp staying on is ok, but the airbag getting deactivated, that's serious. Cant believe a company of Toyota's stature ignoring safety issues with Brake pedals and now Airbags. Reminds me that all company's operate to make profits rather than serve.

I am sorry but what are you trying to get at with this statement? If Toyota would have ignored this issue they wouldn't have gone in for a recall.

[VinodDevil81]

Originally Posted by sansvk

The airbag warning lamp staying on is ok, but the airbag getting deactivated, that's serious. Cant believe a company of Toyota's stature ignoring safety issues with Brake pedals and now Airbags. Reminds me that all company's operate to make profits rather than serve.

Originally Posted by Me-hul

I am sorry but what are you trying to get at with this statement? If Toyota would have ignored this issue they wouldn't have gone in for a recall.

Agree with you that the company has made a recall.But that is nothing generous from Toyota's part considering the fact that it took almost 10 years for them to accept the fault.

What sansvk was trying to say was not about the recall, but about the ignorance/faults in their production & testing process which led to this recall in the first place.I think he has raised a valid point.

We have been hearing so many recall stories now for the past few years from almost all auto-majors.When so much of modern technology and advanced production processes are being used by these companies, how come such serious faults are not detected then and there itself? Still, it can be accepted if 1 or 2 units pass through undetected, but what baffles me most is how such flaws go undetected for years altogether on thousands of units! So is there no review of the safety checks and quality control tests, done atleast once a year?

[sansvk]

Originally Posted by Me-hul

I am sorry but what are you trying to get at with this statement? If Toyota would have ignored this issue they wouldn't have gone in for a recall.

Take the case of the sticky accelerator pedal. They ignored and denied facts for a long time. They could have resolved matter with a recall, now they have recalls + huge fine + lost brand image. I dont think its just Toyota, all manufacturers should be sensitive towards customers especially in the case of safety issues.

[zenren]

Toyota should ideally be asked to pay compensation to all affected users in addition to the recall to fix. Airbag is like an insurance that a buyer is purchasing. If the airbag was not functional for the last 10 years, the additional cost for airbags that was taken as part of the car price along with interest should be returned to the buyers.

Shouldn't this be interpreted as those who paid for airbag feature was actually cheated by the manufacturer for almost 10 years? If there were any deaths in the last 10 years that involves airbag failure, Toyota should be held accountable.

[GrammarNazi]

It took 9 LONG years for the brand that we thought was the 'Holy Grail of Reliability' to realise that some cable in the steering is faulty and it could deactivate the airbag!

To forgive them is generous, but to COMMEND a possibly life threatening error is ________ ..!!! Did customers pay a premium to come across such news ?

Unfortunately AFAIK legally, they can't be sued even after having negligently endangering peoples lives in India. That's why we need atleast some kind of a regulator if not a specific law. (Which IMO will never come into place thanks to crony capitalists & corrupt lawmakers.)

A friend very rightfully pointed out, "Someone scratches your car and you are all riled up. But paying over 1 lac for a fictional life-saving airbag brings out the humility out of one."

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

Our Innova V from the 2005 batch issue has this issue. According to the dealer fella, the fault in the cable would lead to the Driverside airbag becoming non functional. It may also prevent the horn pad from working.

It is really annoying to see the red Airbag warning light flash whenever the vehicle is on. Toyota ASC quoted around 15k to fix it. But we did not get it fixed, waiting for a recall.

It is really saddening to know that it took almost close to 10 years to identify that its a faulty part. Anyway happy that they have finally agreed to replace it!

If this was America and if someone came to know of the problem like you did (before the recall), I'm 100% sure there would've been a class action suit filed suing them. Could've got all the owners quite a good compensation too!

No wonder they don't take Indian customers seriously, first its the laws, then its us. Most (if not all) of us are "Anyway happy that they have finally agreed to replace it!"

Anyway.

[KiloAlpha]

I am not terribly surprised. Toyota had dropped the ball on their core competence - quality - in the past few years. It is only very recently, that Toyota has re-affirmed that it is now committed to its core value of quality.

Question is - like the Tavera recall - given the large number of Innova's in taxi fleets, will they all get fixed? I guess not.

[racer_ash]

The link below mentios of a steering column defect which I think is related to the Innova

http://motoring.iafrica.com/newsbriefs/912588.html

Any idea in which other countries are Innovas sold and in what other name? I am asking because the site does not have any reference to the name Innova.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

The link below mentios of a steering column defect which I think is related to the Innova

http://motoring.iafrica.com/newsbriefs/912588.html

Any idea in which other countries are Innovas sold and in what other name? I am asking because the site does not have any reference to the name Innova.

Its official name in Indonesia is Toyota Kijang Innova, while for other countries it is Innova.

The Innova is also sold in India (replacing the Toyota Qualis), Malaysia (replacing the Toyota Unser), the Philippines (replacing the Toyota Revo), Taiwan (replacing the Toyota Zace surf), Vietnam (replacing Toyota Zace), Jamaica and Thailand. The Innova is also available in Brunei, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the UAE.

Source: wikipedia