Toyota is recalling around 90,000 Highlander Sport Utility Vehicles because of defective safety belts that can interfere with the proper operation of rear facing child safety seats. This is the latest quality issue to beset Toyota, which faces at least one lawsuit involving another type of seatbelt, as well as a whistleblower lawsuit charging the company covered up safety issues.

According the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), this latest recall involves 90,000 model year 2008 Highlander and Highlander hybrid sport utility vehicles. The NHTSA discovered during compliance testing that the locking mechanism on the Highlander seat belts cannot secure properly when certain rear-facing child safety seats are used, which could cause the child seats to move. However, the NHTSA said the belt would still lock securely during an accident. (more…)

Yamaha is recalling the Rhino ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) amid concerns that brakes on the Rhino ATV may fail. The recall, which covers about 7800 Rhino Side-by-Side ATVs, is just the latest safety issue to plague the Yamaha Rhino ATV, which some consider to be the most dangerous ATV on the market.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the brake caliper on the left front wheel of the recalled Yamaha Rhino ATVs could have been made incorrectly, resulting in brake fluid leaking. This can cause a loss of braking and control of the vehicle, posing a serious safety risk to the driver and passenger. The recall covers Model Year 2008 Rhino YXR450 and YXR700 Side-by-Side Vehicles sold at Yamaha dealers nationwide from October 2007 through March 2008 for between $8,300 and $12,000. Consumers with a recalled Rhino ATV should stop using them immediately and contact any authorized Yamaha Rhino dealer to schedule a free repair. The CPSC said registered owners were sent direct mail notification of this recall. (more…)

More Polaris ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles) have been recalled today, following reports that the vehicles are prone to going out-of-control, posing an injury hazard to riders.  The latest Polaris ATV recall involves more than 11,000 Outlaw “IRS” ATVs.  This is the second Polaris ATV recall issued since mid-February.

According to the CPSC, the latest Polaris recall involves Outlaw “IRS” ATVs, model years 2006 through 2008. The model numbers infected are: 2006 Outlaw 500 “IRS”, 2007 Outlaw 500 “IRS”, 2007 Outlaw 525 “IRS”, and 2008 Outlaw 525 “IRS”.   The model name is printed on decals located on either side of the fuel tank. The recalled ATVs  were sold at Polaris dealers nationwide from January 2006 through January 2008 for between $6,900 and $7,400. (more…)

General Motors HHR Wagons do not meet federal crash standards, prompting a recall of 181,156 HHR Wagons.  News of the HHR Wagon recall came just a few days after it was revealed that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating complaints that some of the automaker’s Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukons have caught fire while their engines where off.

According to GM, HHR Wagons sold between 2006 and 2008 that were not equipped with optional roof rail-mounted airbags failed crash tests, and will not protect riders from head injuries in side impact crashes.  GM said dealers would need to install a piece of energy-absorbing plastic to the headliner trim of the HHR Wagons to correct the problem.  The HHR Wagon recall will begin in late March, GM said, when the parts become available. The company will send out notification letters to customers with more information on the HHR Wagon recall. In 2007, about 99,000 Chevy Cobalt sedans were recalled for a similar problem. The Cobalt and HHR share similar underlying engineering. (more…)

The Polaris All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) recall has been expanded to include nearly 50,000 more defective Polaris ATVs.  The Polaris ATV recall expansion doubles the number of defective vehicles recalled since 2005, and now includes near 100,000 ATVs.  The original Polaris ATV recall included about 61,000 vehicles with defective Electronic Control Modules (ECM) which could fail and overheat, causing a fire hazard.

Notice of the Polaris ATV recall came the same day that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released data on ATV accidents.  According to the CPSC, ATVs killed more than 500 people in 2006 and of those victims nearly 1 on in 5 was a child.  In addition to ATV deaths, accidents involving such popular vehicles as the  Polaris ATV and the Yamaha Rhino ATV sent 146,600 people to hospital emergency rooms that same year. Some 75% of the ATV accidents result in serious damage to the head or spinal cord of the accident victim. Head injuries are a major cause of serious life threatening or lifelong physical problems and ailments. Injury to the spinal cord can result in paralysis of the entire body for life. (more…)

The Ford cruise control switch recall just won’t end.  Ford Motor Company has announced that it is recalling 225,000 vehicles due to faulty wiring in the cruise control mechanism.  All of the cars included in this recall have been subject to previous Ford cruise control switch recalls, but now, Ford is saying that the wiring used to fix the defective cruise control switches is itself faulty.

Since 1999, Ford has recalled more than 10 million vehicles because of a faulty cruise control switch that could cause a vehicle to erupt in flames even when it was turned off and parked. The Ford cruise control switch recalls have now covered every single car and truck built with this type of cruise control switch.  Since Ford first started using this particular type of cruise control switch in 1992, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has documented at least 600 fires attributed to the defective component. (more…)

Vehicles recalls increased more than 25 percent in 2007.  Overall, 14.2 million vehicles were recalled last year, up from 11.2 million in 2006, according to preliminary figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  The increase is mainly due to Ford Motor Co., which recalled 5.5 million vehicles in 2007.  Most of the Ford recalls where due to a cruise-control-deactivation switch problem the automaker has been dealing with for years.  GM also recalled 537,992 vehicles as of December 21st, Honda Motor Co. recalled 547,215 vehicles, and Volkswagen of America recalled 1.5 million vehicles, mostly by expanding a parts recalls used in multiple vehicles.  Final recall figures won’t be available until later this month.

“It can take several years for defects to show up,” said Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategy Inc., a Massachusetts-based vehicle-safety analysis and advocacy firm.  “Cars are lasting longer.  Twenty years ago, you were lucky if a car made it to 100,000 miles.  Today, that’s the expectation.”  Ford spokesman Dan Jarvis said, “The vast majority of vehicles recalled were older models introduced a decade ago or even earlier.”  In August, Ford recalled 3.6 million vehicles built between 1992 and 2004 because of a cruise-control switch linked to engine fires.  Since 1999, Ford has recalled 10.4 million vehicles with the switch, the largest U.S. recall ever for a single defective part.

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Yet another Ford recall was announced last week for more than 1 million trucks, SUVs and vans.  Ford said it issued the recall because of a defect that could cause the engines of these vehicles to unexpectedly stall and lead to a possible crash.  According to Ford, there have been 14 reports of sudden accidents related to this defect.   This is the second massive Ford recall since August, when the company recalled millions of other vehicles because of a faulty cruise control switch.

The Ford recall encompasses 1.2 million trucks, SUVs and vans from the 1997-2003 model years with 7.3 liter diesel engines.   The recall includes Ford E-Series van, Excursion full-size sport utility vehicle, and F-450 Super Duty and F-550 Super Duty trucks.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the camshaft position sensor - an electrical component that helps regulate the fuel going into the engine- located on the engine could function intermittently and lead to an engine stall and potential crash.

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Toyota is recalling more than a quarter million cars worldwide, including about 49,000 Lexus models because of defective fuel pipes.  According to Toyota, the defective parts on the recalled vehicles could cause cracks and corrosion and lead to a fuel leak.  The Toyota  recall is just the latest problem for the Japanese automaker in recent months, which has seen its long-held reputation for reliability damaged over mounting quality control issues.

Toyota, once considered to be among the most reliable car makers in the market, has quickly fallen from grace over the past several years.  Last month, Consumer Reports said Toyota “is showing cracks in its armor” and will no longer get automatic recommendations from the magazine for new or redesigned vehicles. It also removed several Toyota vehicles from its recommended list because of quality issues.  While Toyota is poised to overtake General Motors as the world’s biggest automaker by sales as soon as this year, the company recalled 766,000 vehicles in the United States last year, up from 210,000 in 2003.

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Volvo, a Swedish car company with a reputation for making some of the safest automobile on the road, issued a massive worldwide recall today for 56,000 cars.  Some of the vehicles have defective airbags, and others have a material fault that could lead to engine fires.

Most of the recalled Volvo cars where sold in the United States, German, Italy, Britain and Sweden. The airbag recall includes 18,000 Volvo V 70 and XC 70 models.  According to the company, there is a problem with the side airbag software system.  In the event of a collision with a small object, like a fence post, the airbags may not be deployed as quickly as they should be.   Volvo says the problem can be fixed by reprogramming the airbag system’s software, which takes about a half an hour.  The company is sending letters to Volvo owners with information on arranging for the software fix. Volvo said that owners of the recalled cars will receive the airbag software system upgrade free of charge.

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