What happens to Toyota’s bZ4X electric SUVs?
Toyota Motor said it plans to recall 2,700 of its first bZ4X electric vehicles because there is a risk of the wheels coming off. All the details
Even the giants of the car stumble. Or rather, they risk running out of wheels. Toyota, the first automotive group in the world by number of cars produced, after having earned the scepter, in 2021, as the best-selling brand in the USA (it sold 2.3 million cars in the 50 states, while the sales of General Motors, its main competitors, in the same period they dropped by 13% to 2.2 million units: it is the first time that an American car is defeated at home ), aimed to clash directly with Tesla in the electric market, but a nasty hitch it could slow down its run.
BZ4X ELECTRIC SUVS RISK OF LOSING THE WHEELS
Toyota has in fact given the news that it has temporarily withdrawn from the market 2,700 electric SUVs bZ4X: this is its first all-electric car presented, which makes the echo of the stumbling even more disruptive. All the more so since in the past months the House had been attacked by some environmental associations for having passed with excessive calm from endothermic models to full electric ones (the answer was not long in coming: speaking to investors, Toyota said that the hybrid versions at the moment are the optimal choice in all those countries where the infrastructure for EV cars is not sufficiently developed).
The number of vehicles recalled (2,700 units) is very low, especially in the face of similar cases that have occurred to other manufacturers in the last period but, the Financial Times wrote, corresponds to the entire fleet of bZ4X in circulation or almost, given that many they had not yet been delivered to customers. Different is Toyota's thesis which, through a spokesperson, stated that not all models have been subjected to the recall, refusing to say how many have been built and marketed so far.
However you look at it, the Japanese company managed to discover the design flaw in time, blocking sales, promotional tours (several canceled events in Japan, where the car is only offered on lease) and deliveries and containing as much as possible the damage. With regard to the Japanese market, for example, many of the vehicles delivered were not intended for sale but for display and test drive. As for the defect underlying the withdrawal, Toyota itself has communicated that a problem has been found with the bolts that connect the wheels to the vehicle, which tend to loosen while driving with the risk that the wheels could come off the SUVs.
WHAT THE JAPANESE SAFETY BODY SAYS
The Japanese safety agency said tight turns and sudden braking could cause a hub bolt to loosen, increasing the risk of a wheel coming off the vehicle. The authority stated that it was not aware of any incidents caused by the defect. Of the 2,700 vehicles recalled, 2,200 were destined for the European market, 280 for North America, 110 for Japan and the rest for other Asian countries.
SAME DEFECT ALSO IN THE SUBARU ELECTRIC
Subaru Corp also said it recalled approximately 2,600 units of the Solterra, its first all-electric vehicle developed in partnership with Toyota, globally. The reason would always be related to too fragile bolts. As for Subaru, most of the vehicles returned to the factory were destined for dealerships and none were delivered to customers in the United States, a Subaru spokesperson said.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/che-succede-ai-suv-elettrici-bz4x-di-toyota/ on Fri, 24 Jun 2022 09:55:44 +0000.