General Electric reported on November 25 that US regulators said on the 24th that Toyota Motor Corp. had recalled 110,000 Tundra pickups to remove spare tires underneath the body.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Management Committee (National Highway Traffic Safety Management Committee) stated that paving salt may corrode a part of the frame, causing the spare tire to fall to the ground and cause road damage to other vehicles.
The safety recall involved 110,000 Toyota Tundras, model numbers from 2000 to 2003 in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Myanmar, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New Jersey. New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, and Washington, DC. These states often use chemical deicers such as paving salt to treat winter roads.
Toyota will contact the owner and ask them to send the car to a local dealer for inspection and compensation. Depending on the degree of erosion, Toyota will apply a preservative to the damaged area or replace the rear axle if necessary. In the event that the rear axle cannot be replaced, Toyota will compensate these vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Management Committee urges vehicle owners to remove spare tires before sending them to dealers.
A Toyota spokesman did not immediately comment on this.