Oops. Toyota is recalling 690,000 cars made at two of its joint ventures, Guangzhou Auto and Tianjin FAW because of faulty electrical window switches. That is more cars than it sold in China last year. Though not a safety threatening defect, the recall is big, and an embarrassment. Not only is it the biggest autos recall in China since 2004, it also highlights Toyota quality/reliability/durability standards and follows a recall of Camry’s earlier this year because of faulty brakes. Models affected by this latest recall include Camry, Corolla, Vios and Yaris.
The recall won’t do much for Toyota’s idling sales in China, either; the Japanese carmaker hasn’t matched the recent success of America’s GM among the foreign manufacturers, largely because it has a limited range of compacts, and so hasn’t been able to capitalize as much on government tax incentives for small cars.
China Bystander 