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.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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