Hilux 4x4 Forum

Toyota South Africa says its recall of over 700,000 cars is the biggest in this country but it sees this as a preventative measure to make sure that any faults are rectified.

The Japanese carmaker has issued a notice saying some models could be affected by faulty airbag inflators, manufactured by Takata.

So far, no injuries or fatalities linked to the problem have been reported locally.

Toyota South Africa CEO Andrew Kirby says the vehicles affected were sold between 2002 and 2015 and include popular models such as Hilux, Corolla, Yaris and Rav4s.

Kirby says the fault with the airbag could be linked to the country’s climate.

“We know that when the vehicle ages there is a potential that the airbag may not deploy correctly so we are planning to upgrade the vehicles to the latest version.”

He says this particular recall was, in fact, started in 2015 and more models were added in the last few years.

“And customers can go to our website, enter their VIN numbers to check if their vehicle is applicable.”

Toyota says although this is a major operation, the company is well equipped to handle the large customer volumes.