Dubai: The UAE dealership of Toyota Motor said on Thursday it was temporarily suspending the sale of the Lexus GX460 after a US consumer magazine warned against buying the 2010 model for possible risk of roll-over accidents
“For more than 50 years Al Futtaim Motors has made customer safety and satisfaction our highest priorities. Therefore yesterday [Wednesday] we temporarily suspended sales of this model following the concern regarding the response time of the Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), under extreme cornering conditions,” Simon Frith, Managing Director of Al Futtaim Motors, said in a statement in response to Lexus USA’s actions regarding GX460.
“In the meantime we are working closely with Lexus to fully investigate this concern,” he added.
“We are contacting all our GX460 customers to explain the situation and will keep them updated as more information becomes available. We will also provide a courtesy car if any customer who has purchased a GX460 is concerned about driving their vehicle. If any of our customers have further questions they can contact our Customer Care Team on 04 206 6002 (between 8am and 6pm),” Frith said in the statement. “Al Futtaim Motors is working closely with the UAE’s Ministry of Economy with regard to the resolution of the issue.”
Earlier on Thursday, Toyota Motor said it would conduct vigorous safety tests on its full range of sport utility vehicles following the safety alert in the US. It said it had not yet decided whether to recall the GX 460, sold mainly in North America but also in the Middle East, Russia and some other nations.
Toyota suspended sales of the GX 460 in North America temporarily Tuesday within hours of the Consumer Reports warning, acting relatively quickly to the report after being criticized as slow in responding to consumer complaints on faulty gas pedals, defective floor mats and braking software glitches.
The model has sold 5,400 units in the United States and Canada in the four months since it has been on the market, and a total of 580 units in the Middle East and Russia.
“The foremost reason for doing the extra tests is to put customers’ minds at ease,” Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi was quoted as saying by Reuters. She added that Toyota had received no reports of the problems described by Consumer Reports from GX 460 drivers.
Takeuchi also denied a Kyodo News report that Toyota would voluntarily recall the Lexus GX 460. Separately, the Nikkei business daily said in its online edition that Toyota would modify the electronic stability control systems and other aspects of the vehicle after the influential, non-profit magazine’s findings.
“There is no way of recalling a car – voluntarily or otherwise – unless we find something wrong with the car, and we haven’t done that yet,” Takeuchi said. “It’s premature to talk about any recall steps at this point.” Toyota has said its engineers were "vigorously testing" the SUV to identify the risk cited by Consumer Reports, and has offered to provide a loaner vehicle for any concerned driver of the 2010 GX 460 model until a remedy was available.
With inputs from Reuters and AP
