On Thursday, September 26, 2013, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. announced that they are recalling approximately 694,000 vehicles. The 2004-2005 and 2007-2009 models of Sienna minivans are being recalled due to a shift lever problem, mostly throughout North America. 615,000 vehicles are located in the United States, while 56,000 and 23,000 of them are located in Canada and Mexico, respectively. The others are located in Germany and Guatemala.
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. described the aforementioned vehicles as having possible damage to the shift lock solenoid, which can cause the minivan to shift out of the “Park” position and have it roll away without the driver depressing upon the brake pedal. The vehicles were manufactured at a Toyota plant in Indiana, and Toyota spokeswoman, Cindy Knight, has issued recently received reports to the public. According to the company, there has been twenty-one minor accidents in the United States and three in Canada, in which two of the incidents resulted in minor injuries.
Toyota Sienna minivans are second to Honda Odyssey on the list of the best-selling mini-vans across the United States market this year. Through August, there has been a five percent increase in the sale of these vehicles, considering that Toyota is one of the leading car manufacturing companies in the country. Yet, Toyota is first to all other companies in its total amount of recalled vehicles worldwide, and this is not the first time that Toyota has recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles this year. Just earlier in the month, the company had two voluntary safety recalls of roughly 235,000 vehicles.
Toyota will contact owners of 2004-2005 and 2007-2009 models of Sienna mini-vans by mail and ask that they bring their vehicles to a dealership for replacement. For owners who many have purchased a used Sienna mini-van and would like to know if their vehicle is on the recall list, they may visit www.toyota.com/recall for more information.
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