Toyota Vietnam releases recall plan on 65,000 cars

Toyota Vietnam Friday afternoon officially offered its apology and released its recall plan starting next Monday on over 65,000 cars that were manufactured in Vietnam.

“TMV (Toyota Vietnam) offers its sincere apology to customers in particular and Vietnamese consumers in general as it has made them worry over three quality issues of Toyota vehicles”, said a public communication released by TMV.

The three technical faults relate to oil pressure at the rear wheel higher than standard, bolt No 8 that is used under rear seat and camber bolts beyond standard.

According to this communication, TMV admits to a number of faults in manufacturing and will repair free of charge Innova and Fortuner vehicles that were produced from December 23, 2010 backwards.

Regarding oil pressure problem, the company will check Innova J (Produced between January 19 and November 24 2010). It will take at most two hours to fix this problem for each car.

Regarding bolt issue under the rear seat, it will check all Innova (Produced between December 26 2005 and December 23 2010) and Fortuner (Produced between February 16 2009 and December 23 2010).

This bolt problem will take a maximum 12 minutes to fix on each car.

Regarding camber bolt issue for Innova J and Innova G (Manufactured between December 26 2005 and October 13 2006), it will take at most one hour to fix.

Recall will be started from April 18 at all TMV distributors across Vietnam.

According to the latest figures, there are 65,703 vehicles subject to this recall, much higher than the 8,830 figure that TMV production director Tadashi Yoshida announced at a press conference on April 1.

Camry recall

TMV two days ago announced to repair free of charge 278 Camry 3.5 and Camry 2.4 cars having their bolts on the front tightened too much beyond standard.

Such defective vehicles were produced between January 27 and March 24 this year.

Camry 3.5 bears Vehicle Identification Number lying between XXB 6001801 and XXB 6001810 while Camry 2.4 XXB 6008875 and XX 6009175.

The Vehicles’ owners will receive a letter of invitation from TMV or they can check their cars’ situation by visiting TMV website at www.toyotavn.com.vn or via direct contact with TMV agents.

TMV also recommends that the customers set up an appointment before bringing their cars to its auto repair station.

Earlier Le Van Tach, an engineer working for Toyota, had released documents revealing three major glitches in Innova and Fortuner vehicles.

The cars made in Vietnam face balance issues since their screws are not tightened properly as instructed by the Japanese company, he said. The brakes and seats do not meet safety standards either, he said.

Vienam Register won’t inspect TMV assembly line

Trinh Ngoc Giao, Director of Vietnam Register, a central agency responsible for vehicles’ safety, told the press that TMV faults are not big, mainly related to assembly procedures.

Giao also said that his agency is not capable of checking TMV’s assembly line

“Vietnam Register only investigates the situation”, Giao said, adding that equipment, machinery and assembly line are the responsibility of the producer.

Toyota avoids the word “recall”

TMV never uses the word “recall” or “triệu hồi” in Vietnamese in all the released documents.

Instead, it is a “program to freely inspect and fix vehicles” (Chương trình kiểm tra xe miễn phí), which basically means exactly the same as “recall”.

vietnamnet, tuoitrenews

>   Foreigners injecting money in mobile phone factories in Vietnam (18/04/2011)

>   Pepper prices perk up on increased demand (16/04/2011)

>   Foreigners top phone market (16/04/2011)

>   Imported looms boost textile industry (16/04/2011)

>   Seminar discusses product development (16/04/2011)

>   HCMC IPs fail to save energy (16/04/2011)

>   Better state supervision, transparency would reduce mining industry losses (16/04/2011)

>   Salt producers abandon fields as prices and productivity fall (16/04/2011)

>   Port relocation makes no considerable progress (16/04/2011)

>   Thach Khe iron super project getting stuck due to lack of capital (16/04/2011)