Embattled Toyota said yesterday it is voluntarily fixing 1.3 million vehicles in North America for engine oil leaks but denied the campaign is a recall because it did not affect safety.
“It is what we call a service campaign,” said Toyota spokeswoman Mieko Iwasaki in Tokyo.
For the past five months, she said, “we’ve been carrying out repairs step by step, sending letters to owners and dealers.”
The company had first informed North American dealers and car owners of the campaign in October and launched its third phase last week to voluntarily repair the defect, a crack in an engine hose.
In an e-mail statement received early yesterday in Tokyo, the company said the problem “may cause oil to leak from the VVT-i oil hose producing abnormal engine noise and the oil pressure light to illuminate.”
“This is not a safety recall, and submitting a Defect Information Report to the [US] National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is not required,” the statement said.
Japan’s biggest car maker has come under fire for its global recalls of more than 8 million vehicles for accelerator and brake system defects, and has been accused of dragging its feet on making the safety flaws public.
Toyota executives were due to face a US Senate panel grilling later yesterday after company president Akio Toyoda last week apologized in a US House hearing and did the same in Beijing on Monday.
He apologized again yesterday.
“We have caused worries and troubles to customers,” Toyoda told Japanese reporters in Nagoya, Japan, Jiji Press reported. “I am grateful for the opportunity of direct dialogue in the United States. I think I made a proper explanation in China, too.”
Meanwhile, Iwasaki said the company had already repaired the oil leak problem free-of-charge in 342,200 Avalon, Camry and RAV4 models and 374,000 Lexus ES 350 and RX 350 vehicles in the US.
In the latest phase of the US campaign started on Feb. 22, she said Toyota wrote to owners and dealers of 128,800 Avalon and 89,000 RAV4 vehicles, asking them to bring their cars in for the one-hour repair job.
“Separately in Japan we announced in October the repair of 45,000 vehicles for the same cause,” she said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from