Feds Expand Investigation of Toyota Models Over Fire Risk to 1.4 Million Vehicles

The U.S. government has added approximately 570,000 vehicles to an ongoing probe

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by Carscoop

June 18, 2012 at 19:07

The U.S. government has added approximately 570,000 vehicles to an ongoing probe of a power window master switch located on the driver’s door on certain Toyota models that could pose a fire risk, increasing the total number of vehicles investigated to a little over 1.4 million units.

In addition to the 830,000 Toyota Camry sedans, Camry Solara coupes and cabriolets and RAV4 SUVs from the 2007 model year, the probe now includes the 2007-2009MY Camry and Camry Hybrid, RAV4 and Yaris vehicles built from around September 2006 through August 2008, as well as all MY 2008 Highlander Hybrid vehicles.

“ODI [Office of Defects Investigation] has identified certain Toyota vehicles experiencing a higher rate of fire and thermal event incidents among all Toyota vehicles that use the same power window master switch design,” said the NHTSA on its website.

The safety agency also upgraded the investigation to a so-called engineering analysis, which brings it closer to a recall.

NHTSA said that there have been 161 complaints and nine injuries related to this issue.