Unfastened nuts in power steering results in Toyota Prius recall

An error in the power steering system has resulted in a Toyota Prius recall that pertains to every Prius made until 2003, including the first to be made on the assembly line. Nuts that secure the power steering system can come loose over time. The cars’ steering can become almost unmanageable if unchecked.

First Prius ever made affected in recall

MSNBC states that Toyota Motor Company issued a recall for the Toyota Prius Hybrid because of some troubles with the power steering system. In the past couple of years, Toyota has dealt with a ton of different recalls. The recall effects every Prius made from 1997 to 2003. In just Japan, there are 48,000 automobiles being affected. These were all made from 1997 to 2003. Automobiles from 2001 to 2003 are impacted in the rest of the world. That is because Prius didn’t sell the automobiles worldwide until 2001. Without counting Japan, there are 58,000 vehicles impacted. They’re all from those model years. About 1,800 of those cars are in the UK, 52,000 in the United States and 800 in Germany. There will be a total of about 106,000 cars recalled. That’s lots of vehicles that need fixing.

All Prius automobiles will be fixed for free

According to AutoWeek, there are low-quality nuts in the power steering structure. This has caused the Prius recall. The steering and left turns can be very hard to do if the nuts get loose with wear that secure the pinion shaft to the steering gear box. This loosening occurs whenever the wheel is turned many times to the full lock position, reports MotorTrend. This is likely to take place over the lifetime of a vehicle though. About four hours are needed for new nuts that won’t loosen to be installed. It will be done for free in all Prius cars. There has been only one accident, according to USA Today, and it was minor. In August 2007 in Japan, the first complaint was made. There were 28 more complaints in Japan and one in the U.S. This brought on the issue to be dealt with.

Toyota to get back on track

Toyota has announced that it expects to be returning to full production capacity soon. Toyota’s production facilities in Japan, along with other Japanese auto manufacturers, were severely affected as a result of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan earlier this year. Toyota plans to recuperate faster than at first though. This is after the March 11 catastrophe occurred. Toyota’s operations in Japan are anticipated to return to 90 percent pre-earthquake capacity nearly instantly. Global operations in Thailand, China and Europe are expected to be at 100 percent capacity this month. Toyota is jumping on this recall as early as possible. The car maker has been publicly rocked by the massive Toyota recalls in the last two years that resulted in more than 14 million cars being recalled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su5V4I2kwQI

Information from

MSNBC

msnbc.msn.com/id/43235940/ns/business-autos/

Auto Week

autoweek.com/article/20110601/CARNEWS/110609999

MotorTrend

wot.motortrend.com/toyota-recalls-2001-2003-prius-steering-defect-82679.html

USA Today

content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/06/toyota-recalls-52000-prius-models-in-us-after-report-of-single-accident-/1?loc=interstitialskip