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Toyota fixing engine failures in new Tundra truck

By Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT, May 29 (Reuters) - A glitch in Toyota Motor Corp.'s Tundra pickup truck has caused 20 engine failures and forced it to track down other trucks at risk for the problem, the Japanese automaker said on Tuesday.
Toyota said a flaw in the camshaft in a limited number of 5.7-liter, V-8 engines installed in early versions of the Tundra has caused the engine component to crack and fail.
Toyota has billed the Tundra as its most important product launch ever. Its engine problems comes as Toyota faces pressure to maintain its reputation for quality in the face of a stretch of fast growth that has made it the world's largest automaker.

Toyota said it has determined that a flaw in the casting of a still-undetermined number of Tundra camshafts -- made for Toyota's Alabama engine plant by an outside supplier -- prompted the engine failures.
"The supplier has made changes, and we think the problem is solved," Toyota spokesman John McCandless said. Toyota declined to identify the component supplier.
In cases in which a Tundra camshaft fails, Toyota is replacing the truck engine at no charge, representatives said.
Toyota spokesman John Hanson said that the automaker has no plans to inspect vehicles for the flaw and is confident that it can identify what it expects will be a small number of trucks at risk for developing the camshaft problem.

We're still trying to get our arms around how many could have been affected," he said.
The camshaft is designed to open and close intake and exhaust valves in the engines. A break in the part would cause the truck's engine to shut down or fail to start, Hanson said.
The 5.7-liter V-8 -- the largest engine made by Toyota -- has accounted for more than 70 percent of the new Tundra sales since the truck launched in February.
Toyota, which overtook General Motors Corp. as the world's largest automaker in the first quarter, sold over 37,000 of the new Tundra trucks in the first three months on the market in the United States.

The truck, which is being built at a new Toyota assembly plant in San Antonio, Texas, takes aim at a profitable niche still dominated by the Detroit-based automakers.
Toyota has marketed the new Tundra as a full-size work truck fully competitive with the offerings from its Detroit rivals, including Ford Motor Co.'s market-leading F-series trucks.
Toyota held back the launch of the new Tundra until February in order to produce enough of the 5.7-liter, V-8 engines to meet expected demand.
Other aspects of the Tundra launch have also faced scrutiny, including Toyota's uncharacteristic reliance on incentives of up to $2,500 to boost sales of the new truck.
The Tundra also received four-star safety ratings in U.S. government crash safety tests, a lower rating than Ford's competing F-150.

HA HA



also, sludge recalls!

this does my heart good

_________________
Kevin Parent

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BT Race Cars


See some projects from BT Race Cars at
http://community.webshots.com/user/t6990rt

I'm not looking very hard to find this stuff (in fact, I am not looking at all! A hardcopy of this was laying over by the printer):

Toyota recalling nearly 1 million cars worldwide

Defective parts could cause drivers to lose control of steering wheel

AP-Washington - Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it is recalling nearly 1 million vehicles across the globe to replace faulty parts that could cause drivers to lose control of the steering wheel.

The recall affects about 986,000 vehicles across 10 models, including its popular Prius hybrid car. More than half of the affected vehicles are in Japan, company officials said.

The intermediate shafts and sliding yokes in the recalled cars lack the necessary strength and could distort or crack under strong pressure, causing drivers to lose control of the steering wheel, the Japanese automaker said in a statement.

In the United States, Toyota is recalling about 170,000 Prius models because the steering shaft assembly could become loose or crack under certain conditions.

Toyota said there have been no reported crashes or injuries connected to the problem in the US. Owners are expected to be notified of the recall in mid-June.

In Japan, the recall involves a total of 565,756 vehicles manufactured under the Wish, Isis, Prius, Corolla, Corolla Runx, Corolla Fielder, Corolla Spacio, Allex and Ractis brands between September of 2002 and November 2005, according to the statement.

The number in Japan included more than 300,000 Wish cars and more than 113,000 Prius cars.

Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong said the recall involves about 240,000 vehicles in Europe, including the Prius, Corolla and Avensis. An additional 10,000 vehicles were being recalled in other parts of the world, including China and New Zealand, he said.

The recall follows more than 30 complaints filed with Toyota since March 2004, the carmaker said. The company wasn't aware of any accidents attributed to faulty parts, it said.