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Honda, Nissan, and Toyota expand Takata recall by millions worldwide

Honda, Nissan, and Toyota are expanding their global Takata airbag inflator recalls to cover millions of additional vehicles. Toyota alone is adding about 5 million vehicles to its campaign globally, and over 600,000 of those are in the US, according to Automotive News. Nissan's expansion includes an estimated 1.56 million cars worldwide, including about 326,000 in North America, but the exact models from the company are not yet known. According to Automotive News, Honda has also announced plans to increase the scope of its campaign but hasn't yet disclosed specific models, total numbers, or their location. Company spokesperson Chris Martin tells Autoblog that none of these vehicles are in the US, though. In the US, Toyota is replacing the driver's side front inflators on 160,000 examples of the 2004 and 2005 RAV4 nationwide. It's also swapping out the front passenger side parts for 177,000 units of the 2003 and 2004 Tundra (pictured above) and 2004 Sequoia. The automaker is also expanding its regional recalls in high-humidity areas to include the passenger-side inflators of 300,000 more vehicles. In total, the affected models are 2005-2007 model-year Corolla, Matrix, Sequoia, and Lexus SC; plus the 2005-2006 Tundra is included, as well. All of the states that are covered by this campaign are listed in Toyota's announcement, below. In a statement to Autoblog, Nissan said that it's currently working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on this campaign. "We expect to have a more formal statement and additional information by Friday, May 15," the company said. TOYOTA EXPANDS TAKATA AIRBAG SAFETY RECALLS TORRANCE, Calif., May 12, 2015 – Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. today announced that it is expanding its recalls involving Takata air bag inflators. First, Toyota will conduct a recall to replace Takata-supplied driver front airbag inflators on approximately 160,000 model year 2004 and 2005 RAV4 sport utility vehicles. The inflators could potentially be susceptible to rupture when deployed in a crash, increasing the risk of injury to vehicle occupants. For similar reasons, Toyota will expand two existing recalls for Takata-supplied front passenger airbag inflators, namely: Toyota's nationwide recall launched in April 2013 will expand to include approximately an additional 177,000 model year 2003-2004 Tundra and model year 2004 Sequoia vehicles.

Toyota promoting Mirai as if hydrogen tax credit never went away

At the end of December, the US federal government let the $8,000 tax credit for hydrogen-powered vehicles expire. Despite this little wrinkle, Toyota is still promoting the upcoming 2016 Mirai fuel cell vehicle as a car that will cost under $50,000. In some cases a lot less, since it may also qualify for a $5,000 incentive in California. The car has a $57,500 MSRP, but Nihar Patel, vice president of North American Business Strategy for Toyota Motor Sales, spoke at the 2015 Washington Auto Show last week, and said that the Mirai could cost $44,500 in California. You can see this in the video at around minute four. Toyota knows that the federal incentives have expired, since the real news from the show was Patel's public request to the federal government that the $8,000 tax credit be extended. "We think that the federal credit expiration last year puts [hydrogen] customers in a fairly disadvantageous postion," he said. Plug-in vehicle buyers can still get up to $7,500 tax credit and, "we believe that this inequity needs to be fixed," he said. You can see this in the video at minute 10:20. Toyota said including both the after-incentives price and the call to reinstate those incentives was intentional since it shows a discrepancy between hydrogen and plug-in vehicles in the eyes of the feds. We asked Toyota's director of Energy and Environmental Research, Technical and Regulatory Affairs, Robert Wimmer, for more details on Toyota's request. "[The Mirai] being a ZEV and battery electrics also being ZEVs, we just want to make the playing field as level as possible," he said, adding that any extension would last "for the run of the vehicle," which would be three years. He admitted that the extension might only be for one or two years, if it happens at all. (A Toyota spokesperson clarified to AutoblogGreen that the Mirai program will not end after three years.) And that's the problem. "The tax process is difficult to predict," he said. "The two challenges we have now are that both houses of Congress are Republican and also that there has been talk for a while about comprehensive tax reform. If that moves forward, then extenders would probably be put on the back burner as comprehensive tax reform is discussed." Wimmer would not reveal any details about how Toyota is pressuring the government to act, only saying that Toyota's has people lobbying up on Capitol Hill.

Scion pondering move upmarket?

Scion is simultaneously celebrating its ten-year anniversary with the 10 Series models and trying to figure out what to do with itself over the next ten years. Once a go-to consideration for young, first-time buyers who wanted something cool and different, in 2013 it has a model everyone is still talking about in the FR-S, a model few are still talking about in the iQ, and three models in between in the tC, xB and xD that make everyone wonder, "What happened?"
Automotive News spoke to Toyota's North American CEO, Jim Lentz - he was the VP in charge of Scion when it launched - about the options, and Lentz said one of them could be a move upmarket to challenge the established luxury brands that are moving downmarket. "There's going to be a big need in the $25,000 range for a fun-to-drive, nice-looking, value-oriented product," he said, and the FR-S, which starts at $25,255, could provide the platform for Scion to climb up a notch or two in price and perception. An idea like this could conceivably work in tandem with a proposal to move entry-level Scion products over to the Toyota brand - but remember, this is all just ideas on a whiteboard at the moment.
As opposed to an "entry-luxury fighter," the brand could swing back to the other option that was considered when it was formed, directly challenging the Korean makes that have usurped its cachet with first-time buyers. Lentz said Scion could go either way, and the tone of the piece seems to indicate that the final direction is still a ways away from being resolved.