Toyota to recall 1,000 Corolla cars in India

While four Japanese automobile majors — Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota — are recalling 3.4 million vehicles globally because of faulty airbags, the impact in India will be only on Toyota customers.

The Indian arm of Toyota Motor — Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) — on Thursday said the recall would be limited to only around 1,000 vehicles, out of the total of 17.30 lakh vehicles under recall globally.

Toyota is recalling the Corolla model car manufactured between January 2003 and June 2003. In India, the car is assembled at TKM’s factory on the outskirts of Bangalore.

“In India, it’s around 1,000 vehicles only. But, we have no incident reported or complaint received in India. These vehicles are more than 10 years old. However, our dealers will contact the customers and inspect the vehicle and if required will replace the part,” Sandeep Singh, Deputy Managing Director, TKM, told Business Line.

The problem arose in these vehicles (including those manufactured by other companies) due to defective airbags supplied by Takata Corp of Japan.

The front passenger airbags could have been assembled with improperly manufactured inflator propellant wafers, which could cause the inflator to rupture and the airbags to deploy abnormally in a crash.

However, other Japanese subsidiaries — Honda Cars India and Nissan India — said there is no impact of their global recalls on Indian customers.

“India is not affected by the global recall of Honda,” a spokesperson at Honda Cars India said.

“There is no impact of the recall in India at the moment — whether a vehicle manufactured in India or the one running on the Indian roads,” said a spokesperson at Nissan India.

While Honda has recalled 11.4 lakh vehicles, Nissan has recalled 4.80 lakh vehicles globally, especially in the US market.