Johannesburg - The massive recall of close to three-quarters of a million Toyota vehicles in South Africa, reported by various international news agencies on Friday morning, is in fact the same recall for the replacement of airbags with faulty inflators, made by Takata more than a decade ago, which has been ongoing since 2015.
The agencies quoted corporate public relations manager Mzolisi Witbooi as saying Toyota South Africa was recalling 730 000 cars, SUVs and bakkies to replace defective airbag inflators affecting different models.
"Toyota and many other motor manufacturers worldwide are recalling vehicles for potentially defective Takata airbag inflators. Globally, there are close to 100 million vehicles affected across several brands. At Toyota South Africa we have 730 000 vehicles affected," Witbooi was quoted as saying.
All of which is perfectly true - except that the recall has now been ongoing for almost three years, explained senior communications manager Clynton Yon, since shortly after the Takata airbag debacle went public in 2014. While the scope of the recall has been expanded since the original announcement as new information came to light, no models have been added to the list of vehicles affected for several months.
The vehicles recalled by Toyota SA for airbag replacement are Hilux, Fortuner and Rav4 models made between July 2003 and December 2005, and Corolla, RunX and Yaris models made between January 2002 and December 2007.