Toyota Motor Corp yesterday said it would recall about 6.5 million vehicles worldwide to fix power window switches that might short circuit and potentially lead to a fire.
About 2.7 million of the recalled vehicles are in North America, with 1.2 million in Europe and 600,000 in Japan, Toyota said in an e-mail. The recalled models produced outside of Japan include the Yaris, Corolla, Camry, RAV4 and Highlander.
Toyota said it is not aware of any crashes caused by the fault, which resulted from inconsistent application of a sprayed-on grease on electrical contact points in the power switch. Debris can accumulate where insufficient grease is applied and result in a short-circuit, causing the switch assembly to overheat and melt, potentially producing smoke and leading to fire, the company said.
The carmaker got one report of a customer in the US receiving a burn on the hand, and 11 reports of where the switch and door trim were burnt.
Toyota dealers will inspect the switch and apply heat-resistant grease, the company said, adding that the internal circuit board will be replaced if the switch is not operating normally.
The recalled vehicles were produced between January 2005 and August 2006, and August 2008 and June 2010, in Japan, Toyota said.
The cars also include those manufactured outside of Japan between August 2005 and August 2006, and January 2009 and December 2010, it said.
Toyota has been working to regain its reputation for safety after the recall of millions of cars for various problems, including the recent airbag issues at Takata Corp.
Shares of Toyota yesterday gained 2 percent to close at ¥7,467 in Tokyo.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”