Toyota Motor is recalling more than 110,000 vehicles, the automaker said Wednesday.

The company announced that it will conduct a safety recalls of approximately 2,500 2012–2014 RAV4 EV vehicles, and approximately 110,000 2015 Camry, Camry Hybrid, Highlander, Highlander Hybrid, and 2014-2015 RAV4 cars.

Owners of the involved vehicles will receive a notification in the mail, Toyota said.

For the recall-involved RAV4 EV vehicles, components in the Electric Vehicle Traction Motor Assembly (part of the propulsion system) "may cause the vehicle to shift to 'neutral' due to a software issue," Toyota said.

"If the vehicle shifts to 'neutral', this will result in a complete loss of drive power, which can increase the risk of a crash," the recall notice stated.

For the involved Camry, Camry Hybrid, Highlander, Highlander Hybrid and RAV 4 cars, Toyota's recall said that "a circuit board for the electric power steering (EPS) may have been damaged during its manufacturing process."

This could result in the loss of power steering assist, the notice said, which could lead to "in increased steering effort at low vehicle speeds and increases the risk of a crash."

Toyota said it is not aware of any crashes, injuries or fatalities from either of the vehicle problems.

Toyota and its luxury subsidiary, Lexus, are recalling 460,000 electrified models produced for the 2020-2022 model years to address an issue that can cause the vehicles' stability control systems not to activate on startup. If you drive a new Toyota or Lexus and it has at least one electric motor in it (or it's the new LX 600), there's a better-than-even chance you'll be hearing from your dealer in the coming months. The good news for owners is that the issue is one of compliance, rather than something which may immediately endanger a vehicle occupant.

"A software error can cause the Vehicle Stability Control system (VSC) not to default to ON the next time the car is started under certain circumstances. This can result in a noncompliance with applicable regulations in the U.S," Toyota said in its announcement. "For all involved vehicles, Toyota and Lexus dealers will update the software of the Skid Control ECU free of charge to customers."

Included in the campaign are the 2020-2022 Toyota Venza, Mirai, RAV4 Hybrid, RAV4 Prime, Sienna Hybrid, and Highlander Hybrid. On the Lexus side, it hits the LS500h, LX600, NX350h and NX450h+. Notably absent here are the Tundra-based trucks with the new iForce Max hybrid, though Toyota may have addressed the issue in those models before they went on sale. On the other side of the coin, the LX 600 — a purely ICE model for the time being — managed to stumble into the defect pool.

Toyota says owners should receive notices before the end of June.

Toyota is making a worldwide recall involving approximately 2,700 units of its first mass-produced electric vehicle, the bZ4X. Predictably, it also affects the Subaru Solterra, bZ4X’s twin brother from another mother, with around 2,600 EVs. The repair has nothing to do with the fact that the bZ4X is electric. In fact, it is way duller than it may seem: it relates to a hub bold that may go loose, which raises the risk of a wheel coming off the electric SUV.
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Toyota said it did not hear about any cases in which that happened, probably because a single bolt going loose in a wheel that is held in place by five bolts is not that much of an issue. If that happens to more bolts in a single wheel, then that is worrisome. Toyota did not reveal if that is the case. The Japanese automaker only decided to act immediately, which was a wise decision. The sooner it fixed the problem, with only 2,700 cars on the streets, the cheaper it will be to get things settled.

According to Reuters, 2,200 of these 2,700 vehicles were in Europe, 260 in the U.S., 110 in Japan, and 20 in Canada. The numbers do not match: we get only 2,590 units of the 2,700 cars affected by the problem. All the vehicles recalled in Japan were with dealerships, not with customers. They were being used to present the bZ4X.

Toyota apologized and said it planned to repair the vehicles sooner. However, it was still investigating the details. Considering the issue emerges in sharp turns and sudden braking, it may have to do with the added weight of electric cars. Solving it could go from tightening the bolts harder to replacing them with stronger parts that accept more torque.

GM engineers in Brazil used to tell an interesting tale about that. While the Chevrolet Vectra always had problems with its suspension, the Toyota Corolla faced the bad Brazilian asphalt without any issues. GM bought a Corolla to understand how Toyota did the trick and discovered that its suspension had more expensive bolts that could endure more torque than those in the Chevrolet sedan.

By spending a bit more on the suspension bolts, Toyota saved warranty expenses associated with tightening the suspension. The Japanese carmaker may have just discovered that electric cars and their higher mass may also demand stronger bolts in the wheels.

Toyota bZ4X, a compact electric crossover that went on sale in April, had to be recalled because its wheels might fall off. One month after the recall order was issued, Toyota still doesn’t have a clue how to fix it, which is why they are making an unusual offer to the affected owners.
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Toyota started 2022 with a promise to flood the market with electric vehicles. Nevertheless, its first attempt to compete with Tesla didn’t go well, threatening its entire EV program. The Japanese carmaker had to recall the bZ4X two months after launch because of an unusual problem: the wheel bolts may loosen, causing a wheel to detach. Several cases were reported, and Toyota was able to reproduce the problem.

For a carmaker that puts so much stress on reliability, it’s unexpected to find that it’s not the novel electric drive system that causes problems but something so trivial as a wheel bolt. According to the carmaker, the wheel bolts may loosen under “certain severe driving patterns.” And that’s not even the real problem, but the fact that Toyota still doesn’t have a solution. More than a month after the recall, Toyota sent letters to bZ4X owners urging them not to drive their cars until a fix is available.

Toyota offered several options to affected bZ4X owners to make it right by its clients. The Japanese automaker will continue to provide a free-of-charge loaner vehicle. It will also reimburse the fuel costs incurred while operating the loaner instead of their electric vehicle. Additionally, Toyota will provide a $5,000 credit that can be used toward payments of the loan/lease or the purchase price if the car was paid in full.

As if that was not enough, the complimentary charging at EVgo charging stations is extended by the end of 2024. The warranty is also extended with the time that the bZ4X is immobilized because of the recall. But wait, there’s more. Toyota even offers to buy back the affected vehicles, as the original letter shared on Reddit shows. This is certainly unexpected.

“Alternatively, if you do not wish to proceed as described above, Toyota will offer to repurchase your vehicle,” writes the letter. “The terms of the repurchase may vary, depending on your state and particular circumstances.”

Based on the discussion on the r/bZ4X subreddit, it looks like many, if not most of the affected owners, will take the $5,000 credit and wait for a fix later. They still hope that Toyota will offer to repurchase the crossover if it cannot address its problems in the future. Currently, the offer is for U.S. customers only, which means 258 out of 2,700 affected owners.