Toyota Motor Sales is conducting a voluntary safety recall on approximately 9,400 2010 model year Lexus GX 460 sport utility vehicles to update software in the vehicle’s Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) system. The VSC system helps control a loss of traction in turns as a result of front or rear wheel slippage during cornering.
The recall follows the news that Consumer Reports recently rated the vehicle model a "safety risk" due to the fact that the vehicle could roll over in certain scenarios.
"Toyota’s objective is to provide a high level of safety and quality, while meeting or surpassing governmental regulations. Our engineers have conducted tests to confirm the VSC performance issue raised by Consumer Reports, and we are confident this VSC software update addresses the concern," said Steve St. Angelo, Toyota chief quality officer for North America.
All Lexus dealers will have the VSC software update by the end of April. Once the software update is available at dealers, vehicle owners are encouraged to bring their 2010 GX 460 to a dealer at their earliest convenience for the update at no cost. The update should take approximately one hour depending on the dealers’ work schedule, said Toyota.
Starting in early May, Lexus will begin mailing letters to GX 460 owners included in this recall.
Also this week, it was announced that Toyota has agreed to pay a record fine of $16.4 million to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) after NHTSA learned that the automaker was aware of issues of sudden unintended acceleration in its vehicles for four months before taking the issue public.