EA08014 · EA
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL Investigation
IN A JUNE 25, 2008, LETTER RESPONDING TO AN INFORMATION REQUEST FROM ODI, TOYOTA PROVIDED INFORMATION ABOUT AN ACCELERATOR PEDAL INTERFERENCE INCIDENT THAT OCCURRED DURING PRODUCTION DYNAMOMETER TESTING AT THE ASSEMBLY PLANT FOR AN EARLY PRODUCTION MY 2004 SIENNA MINIVAN.THE INCIDENT WAS CAUSED BY A MISSING RETAINING CLIP THAT ALLOWED THE CENTER CONSOLE TRIM PANEL TO INTERFERE WITH (TRAP) THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL AFTER IT HAD BEEN DEPRESSED.TOYOTA SUBSEQUENTLY IMPLEMENTED AN 100% INSPECTION REQUIREMENT FOR THE RETAINING CLIP.IN JUNE 2003, TOYOTA CHANGED THE ORIGINAL DESIGN OF THE TRIM PANEL TO ELIMINATE THE POTENTIAL FOR PEDAL INTERFERENCE IN THE EVENT THE RETAINING CLIP IS NOT PRESENT.ANALYSIS OF COMPLAINTS AND WARRANTY DATA SHOW THAT A FEW (4) INCIDENTS OF INTERFERENCE BY THE TRIM PANEL HAVE OCCURRED IN SERVICE.IN AT LEAST THREE OF THE INCIDENTS, THE INTERFERENCE OCCURRED AFTER SERVICE WAS PERFORMED THAT REQUIRED REMOVAL AND REINSTALLATION OF THE SUBJECT TRIM PANEL AND RETAINING CLIP. ON JANUARY 14, 2009, TOYOTA NOTIFIED ODI THAT THEY WOULD RECALL SUBJECT VEHICLES BUILT BETWEEN JANUARY 10, 2003 AND JUNE 11, 2003, WHEN THE ORIGINAL DESIGN FLOOR CARPET COVER WAS USED IN PRODUCTION (NHTSA RECALL NO. 09V-023).TOYOTA'S RECALL WILL INSTRUCT DEALERS TO REPLACE THE ORIGINAL FLOOR CARPET COVER WITH THE NEWER DESIGN FLOOR CARPET (AND RETENTION CLIP) AT NO CHARGE TO THE OWNER.THE REPAIR WILL REDUCE THE POTENTIAL FOR TRIM PANEL INTERFERENCE WITH THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL TRAVEL SHOULD THE RETAINING CLIPS BECOME MISSING BECAUSE OF IMPROPER SERVICE OR OTHER REASONS.THE RECALL WILL BE CONDUCTED AS A SAFETY IMPROVEMENT CAMPAIGN.
PE08041 · PE
STEERING:COLUMN Investigation
THE OFFICE OF DEFECTS INVESTIGATION (ODI) OPENED A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION, PE08-041, TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGATIONS OF STEERING BINDING OR INCREASED STEERING EFFORT CAUSED BY CORROSION OF STEERING INTERMEDIATE UNIVERSAL JOINTS IN MODEL YEAR (MY) 2004 TOYOTA SIENNA VEHICLES.TOYOTA'S RESPONSE TO ODI'S REQUEST FOR INFORMATION IN PE08-041 INDICATED THAT TOYOTA HAS BEEN INVESTIGATING REPORTS OF INCREASED STEERING EFFORT IN MY 2004 THROUGH 2006 SIENNA VEHICLES SINCE 2005. TOYOTA DETERMINED THAT A COMBINATION OF THERMAL DAMAGE AND SUBSEQUENT WATER INTRUSION COULD LEAD TO CORROSION OF THE LOWERMOST UNIVERSAL JOINT INSTALLED ON THE STEERING INTERMEDIATE SHAFT OF THE SUBJECT VEHICLES. TOYOTA HAS MADE PRODUCTION CHANGES SINCE SEPTEMBER 2006 TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS AND HAS ISSUED TWO TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETINS TO ITS DEALERSHIPS TO PROVIDE INSTRUCTIONS ON DIAGNOSING AND REPAIRING COMPLAINTS RELATED TO CORROSION OF THE INTERMEDIATE SHAFT. TOYOTA HAS NOT DETERMINED THAT A SAFETY DEFECT EXISTS IN THE STEERING SYSTEM OF THE TOYOTA SIENNA VEHICLES AND PROVIDED TEST DATA SHOWING THAT THE EFFECT ON STEERING EFFORT IS MINIMAL, EVEN FOR PARTS WITH RELATIVELY SEVERE CORROSION. ODI ANALYZED COMPLAINT AND WARRANTY DATA RELATING TO THE FOLLOWING SYMPTOMS: (1) STEERING INTERMEDIATE SHAFT BINDING OR LOCKING; (2) CORROSION OF THE STEERING INTERMEDIATE SHAFT UNIVERSAL JOINT; (3) COMPLAINTS OF INCREASED EFFORT TO TURN THE STEERING WHEEL FROM NEUTRAL OR RETURN TO NEUTRAL AFTER TURNING (E.G., HARD STEERING OR STEERING BINDING); OR (4) NOISE WHILE STEERING.THESE ANALYSES REVEALED THAT THE SUBJECT VEHICLES HAVE EXPERIENCED A TOTAL COMPLAINT RATE OF 81.0 PER 100,000 VEHICLES AND A TOTAL WARRANTY CLAIM RATE OF 3.0 PERCENT.ODI'S ANALYSIS FOUND THAT APPROXIMATELY TWO-THIRDS OF COMPLAINTS WERE FOR NOISE ONLY.SIMILAR ANALYSIS OF THE WARRANTY DATA SHOWED THAT 91 PERCENT WERE RELATED TO NOISE CONCERNS. ODI HAS UPGRADED THIS INVESTIGATION TO AN ENGINEERING ANALYSIS (EA08-024) TO CONDUCT TESTING TO ASSESS THE EFFECT OF THE ALLEGED DEFECT ON STEERING EFFORT IN THE SUBJECT VEHICLES.
PE08025 · PE
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL:ACCELERATOR PEDAL Investigation
IN A JUNE 25, 2008, LETTER RESPONDING TO AN INFORMATION REQUEST FROM ODI, TOYOTA REPORTED AN APRIL 2003 UNWANTED ACCELERATION INCIDENT THAT OCCURRED DURING PRODUCTION DYNAMOMETER TESTING.ACCORDING TO THE LETTER THE INCIDENT WAS CAUSED BY A MISSING RETAINING CLIP THAT ALLOWED THE CENTER CONSOLE TRIM PANEL TO INTERFERE WITH (TRAP) THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL AFTER IT HAD BEEN DEPRESSED.IN THE AFTERMATH, TOYOTA REVIEWED THEIR MANUFACTURING PROCESSES AND OTHER DATA AND CONCLUDED THIS WAS AN ISOLATED INCIDENT.AS A SECONDARY MEASURE IN JUNE 2003, TOYOTA CHANGED THE DESIGN OF THE TRIM PANEL TO ELIMINATE THE POTENTIAL FOR PEDAL INTERFERENCE IN THE EVENT THE RETAINING CLIP IS NOT PRESENT. DURING A JULY 2008 MEETING WITH ODI, TOYOTA DEMONSTRATED HOW AN UNRESTRAINED EARLY DESIGN LEVEL TRIM PANEL INTERACTS WITH THE ACCELERATOR AFTER PEDAL DEPRESSION.TOYOTA ALSO ADVISED THAT THEY WERE CONDUCTING A FIELD SURVEY TO EXAMINE PANEL RETENTION AND THAT PRELIMINARILY ONE VEHICLE HAD BEEN IDENTIFIED WITH A CONCERN. NHTSA'S VEHICLE RESEARCH AND TEST CENTER IS ALSO CONDUCTING A SURVEY OF SUBJECT VEHICLES; PRELIMINARILY TWO RESPONSES ALLEGE A CONCERN.BEFORE OPENING PE08-025, ODI STAFF ALSO FOUND A SUBJECT VEHICLE WITH A MISSING RETAINING CLIP DURING A FIELD EVALUATION.NOTE THAT ODI IS NO LONGER COUNTING THE SINGLE COMPLAINT THAT WAS IN THE OPENING RESUME FOR PE08-025 AS IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE VEHICLE INVOLVED WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH THE SUBJECT TRIM PANEL. PE08-025 HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO AN ENGINEERING ANALYSIS (EA08-014) TO GATHER ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT HOW MANY SUBJECT VEHICLES MAY CURRENTLY HAVE ISSUES WITH THE RETAINING CLIP AND ASSESS THE FUTURE RISK OF PEDAL INTERFERENCE INCIDENTS DUE TO MISSING CLIPS.
PE05008 · PE
SEAT BELTS Investigation
ODI RECEIVED TEN CONSUMER COMPLAINTS ALLEGING THAT THE MIDDLE-ROW PASSENGER SEATBELT WEBBING FREQUENTLY JAMS IN THE INTEGRATED SEATBELT GUIDE HOUSING SLOT.DURING NORMAL BODY MOVEMENT OF THE OCCUPANT, THE WEBBING JAMS IN THE SLOT DUE TO A DISLODGED COVER PLATE, THUS CAUSING EXCESS SLACK IN THE SEATBELT ASSEMBLY.TOYOTA?S LETTER RESPONSE TO THE AGENCY IDENTIFIES 40 OTHER CONSUMER AND FIELD REPORTS AND 3,073 WARRANTY REPAIRS THAT REQUIRE THE REPLACEMENT OF THE SEATBELT GUIDE ASSEMBLY.IN ADDITION, THERE ARE ANOTHER 16 WARRANTY CLAIMS ON MY 2005 SIENNA VEHICLES.COMPLAINANTS EXPRESSED CONCERN FOR CHILDREN OCCUPYING THE MIDDLE-ROW SEATS.THEY MAY NOT RECOGNIZE THE POTENTIAL SAFETY RISK OR BE ABLE TO REMEDY A SLACK SEATBELT.A SLACK OR JAMMED SEATBELT DOES NOT OFFER PROPER OCCUPANT PROTECTION IN THE EVENT OF A CRASH.TOYOTA HAS IMPLEMENTED A RECENT DESIGN CHANGE TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM.TOYOTA WILL APPLY THE DESIGN CHANGE TO NEW PRODUCTION VEHICLES AND ALTHOUGH THE DESIGN CAN BE APPLIED TO EARLIER MY 2004 AND 2005 VEHICLES, TOYOTA HAS NOT ANNOUNCED A SAFETY RECALL FOR THOSE VEHICLES.THIS INVESTIGATION IS UPGRADED TO AN ENGINEERING ANALYSIS (EA05-010) AND WILL INCLUDE MY 2005 VEHICLES.