i just heard on the news that Toyota announced a recall of over 100,000 Camry's for a possible defect in the air bags. i cant remember the last time Toyota had a recall on this scale before. actually i can remember them having recalls before but most of those were precautionary and in most cases, there was no actual work that needed to be done. the newscast did say that Toyota dealers would start scheduling inspections next month. i would be curious as to how many actually had a defect. Toyota's quality control is so legendary, its almost hard to believe that they could let that many vehicles get by them.
Hmmm, that is almost unimagineably crazy...but hey, the fact that we can't imagine it is a good thing for Toyota :mrgreen: One does have to wonder how they found out about this problem after releasing it in 100,000+ cars, though. I'd have to imagine their quality control would have found it beforehand if it was so major...but things like this are always bound to happen.
i doubt it. most of the camrys are made in the US. ALL of the Prius are made in japan. as far as major defect. that remains to be seen. i have been through 2 other toyota recalls and both times, i did not have the defect they were refering to. i think toyota tends to err on the safe side (i know that idea is hard to get used to since american auto manufacturers take the opposite approach) and will make sure they recall all possible vehicles. as i said, they didnt specify the defect and they did say they would be scheduling inspections and possible repairs starting next month. if i recall correctly, they did a recall in 96-98 or so concerning a possible bad component and after spending big bucks to inspect several thousand cars, i guess the finding was that the defect didnt actually exist after all. that was one of the ones i was involved in and it was such a non-issue, that i dont even really remember what the fuss was about.
I heard on NPR that the defect was in the side curtain airbag on the Camry. The airbag was sometimes twisted, preventing proper deployment, and could increase the risk of injury (or reduce the airbag's effectiveness) in the event of an accident. They stressed that the defect itself isn't a concern unless you get into an accident and need that airbag.
i wonder how they determined this? sounds like they must have seen this in accidents involving the cars in question. there is no way to access the air bags unless you are in an accident. what we need is an insurance insider to enlighten us!!
