At midnight (EDT) on Saturday, May 21, 2010, Toyota announced the recall of nearly 4,000 additional Lexus vehicles. Way to duck the news cycle!
This latest recall affects late 2009 and some 2010 model year Lexus LS 460 and LS 600hL vehicles in the United States. The problem is with the VGRS system (Variable Gear Ratio Steering)–it is possible that the steering wheel could become temporarily off-centered, especially when making a tight U-turn, making quick change-of-direction turns, or when parallel parking the vehicle.
What to do if your steering wheel becomes off-centered
According to the FAQs provided by Toyota (the parent company of Lexus):
“If the driver notices an apparent steering wheel off-center condition when driving straight, he or she should carefully steer the vehicle and not make any sudden maneuvers. Steering should be based on the vehicle direction of travel rather than the steering wheel position. The VGRS will correct the steering wheel off-center condition automatically (approximately 5 seconds).”
Seriously, though–a car that has steering issues after a sharp U-turn? Are there any other kinds of U-turns? FYI, Toyota says that customers will begin receiving notification letters as soon as remedy parts are available.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: What the heck has been going on with Toyota safety engineers? Several of us at HensonFuerst own Toyota vehicles, and it is beginning to feel like a gamble to drive to work everyday.
We will continue to investigate cases of injury caused by these an other faulty vehicles. If you have been injured in a car wreck, visit our auto page at www.hensonfuerst.com. If you have question, HensonFuerst has answers.
