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October 31, 2006
TOYOTA CHANGES COURSE ON ‘BIZARRE’ CHILD-SAFETY DECISION
In July, Current Developments noted a Detroit News article report that Toyota was planning to spend millions to recall and deactivate front-seat passenger air bag cut-off switches in nearly 160,000 Tundra pickups to avoid having to install a costlier child safety seat anchoring system. The action, which CNN called "totally bizarre," was prompted by NHTSA's rejection of Toyota's petition to waive a federal safety regulation that requires most vehicles built after September 2002 and equipped with the cut-off switch to also have a child seat anchor system known as LATCH for lower anchorages and tethers for children. The regulation was meant to ensure that child seats stay in place in a crash, especially in vehicles with smaller rear-seating, such as pickups. (See July 2006 Current Development Archive.)
Now, the paper reports, NHTSA has forced the automaker to modify its recall, which the agency said was insufficient. In response, Toyota has developed a new plan in which it will “send a letter to all affected Tundra owners with a label outlining the problems with the Tundra's child latches and air bag switch, and recommending that owners always use the rear seats for children. If owners want the front latches installed, they can request it from Toyota, which will provide them for free once it figures out how to retrofit the latches into the truck.”
Posted by MVHAP at October 31, 2006 04:55 AM