Toyota's battery fire hazard forced the Japanese automaker to conduct a massive recall, affecting millions of its SUVs in the United States.
The car manufacturer explained that it had to do this since the issue can be life-threatening for drivers, especially if they usually make forceful turns. Toyota announced the latest recall on Wednesday, November 1. Here are the details it shared regarding the battery fire hazard.
Toyota Battery Fire Hazard Leads to Massive Recall
Toyota cars are offered for sale at a car dealership on December 22, 2008 in Wiesbaden, Germany. Today Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp., the world's second largest car manufacturer announed a 91 percent lowered net income forecast.
Toyota said that its safety recall involves certain RAV4 SUVs, which were manufactured between 2013-2018. The Japanese automaker added that over 1.8 million vehicles are estimated to suffer from the battery fire issue.
"Approximately 1,854,000 vehicles are involved in this recall," said Toyota via its press release.
According to Fortune's latest report, the affected batteries can catch fire if drivers make a forceful turn. This happens because the aggressive turn can move the battery from its place.
"Some replacement 12-volt batteries of the size specified for the subject vehicles have smaller top dimensions than others," explained Toyota.
The vehicle manufacturer said that the batteries of its RAV4 SUVs can be unstable if a small-top battery is used for replacement and the hold-down clamp is not tightened correctly.
Toyota explained that this unwanted movement can cause the positive battery terminal to make contact with the hold clamp down. Once this happens, there could be a short circuit, eventually leading to a combustion.
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How Will Toyota Fix Battery Fire Issue?
A Toyota RAV4 sits on the sales lot at a Toyota dealership on February 24, 2011 in Oakland, California. Toyota announced today that it will recall nearly 2.2 million vehicles that have floor mats that could interfere with their gas pedals. The list of cars to be recalled includes 761,000 2006-10 RAV4, 603,000 2003-09 4Runner models and 17,000 2008-11 Lexus LX 570 models.
As of writing, Toyota said it doesn't have a solution for the battery fire hazard in its RAV4 SUVs. But, the automaker promised to prepare the remedy its clients need. The company added that once this remedy is completed, Toyota dealers will replace the battery hold-down clamp, positive terminal cover, and battery tray with better ones.
Toyota clarified that owners will not spend anything for the repair. All they have to do is bring their affected RAV4 SUV to the nearest Toyota dealership. The Japanese automaker also said that all affected owners will receive a notification before December ends.
For those who haven't brought their 2013 to 2018 RAV4 SUV models to the car manufacturer's dealers, the best thing they can do is contact the Toyota Brand Engagement Center (1-800-331-4331).
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