Selling the most cars is tricky business and Toyota has issued a repair campaign -- not a recall, there's no government filing or immediate safety risk they say -- for 650,000 of its Toyota Prius hybrids over a cooling pump glitch which could cause the vehicle to overheat and lose power. 378,000 of the vehicles included are in the United States.
At issue is the electric water pump itself. The pump can let air into the system, interrupting the flow of cooling liquid over hot electronics and causing a warning light that, if left untended, will cause the vehicle to go into limp home mode. The repair is expected to cost Toyota $100 per vehicle.
As always, if you have a vehicle covered under this, get it checked out. And, related, if you have a vehicle that tells you to check the engine or that it's overheating-- get it checked out before it falls into limp home mode.
( Auto News )
lostboyz says:
08:16 AM, 11/30/10
just because it wasn't mandated, its still a recall
firstwagon says:
09:14 AM, 11/30/10
Call it what you want but Toyota identified a problem, is telling people about it and fixing it for free.
Very different from the standard automaker response of ..."it's not a problem"... "it's a problem but it's rare and not covered" or "it's a problem but it's your fault".
lostboyz says:
09:18 AM, 11/30/10
Is it better that they called it before it got caught by someone else? Of course.
It doesn't change the fact they have a faulty system that could potentially effect 650k units.
altimadude05 says:
10:12 AM, 11/30/10
Ouch.
hybris says:
12:34 PM, 11/30/10
How is it that we are finding recall worthy faults in cars 3 to 6 years old?
How does this stuff go unnoticed for so long?
firstwagon says:
04:24 PM, 11/30/10
Components take time to fail sometime. This isn't a Cruze (sorry, couldn't resist)
onramp says:
10:59 PM, 12/10/10
I wonder if the Prius owners that had this issue prior to Toyota's "repair campaign" can recoup any expenses from this? I know personally of family members whose Prius suffered this very issue, except it was on the very last leg of their return from a big road trip in August. The car called it a wrap for the day, and they had to seek the local dealer for a tow and repair...except it was a $350 repair, not an "expected" $100.