Toyota Recall 2014 List: 423,000 Lexus Recalled Over Fuel Leaks

Nearly 423,000 of the luxury brand Lexus cars have been recalled after Toyota received reports of fuel odor and fuel leaks from their customers.

Reuters reported that the company is recalling a total of 422,509 Lexus vehicles. The list includes the Lexus LS models from years 2007 to 2010, Lexus GS models from 2006 to 2011, and Lexus IS models from 2006 to 2011.

According to the report published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on its website, the Lexus LS vehicles that were recalled were manufactured from May 9, 2006 to July 20, 2010. The Lexus GS vehicles were manufactured from January 6, 2005 until September 10, 2010 while the Lexus IS cars were manufactured from August 30, 2005 to September 10, 2010.

"Due to anti-corrosion plating remnants, fuel may leak from where the fuel pressure sensor is attached to the fuel delivery pipe," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in its report. It added that the fuel leak may cause a fire.

A more detailed NHTSA report said that nickel phosphate plating was used to avoid corrosion. The gasket's sealing property, it said, might have been degraded after the pipes have been made with plating particles. This caused the fuel leaks in the vehicles.

The same NHTSA report said the company first got a report that fuel odor was coming from the vehicle's engine in June 2010. It was also confirmed that there was a fuel leakage between the pipe and the pressure sensor. Toyota studied the process of manufacturing the cars but was not able to find any "abnormalities."

The company continued to receive additional reports about the fuel odor and fuel leakage, the NHTSA report said. This has prompted the company to conduct another investigation but they never found any abnormalities.

Toyota then conducted another test called Fault Tree Analysis to identify the causes of the odor and leak, the same report said. The tested shifted focus to the usage of the vehicle, heat and vibration evaluation, and the effects of stress relaxations in the gasket but it did not prove anything. On October 9, 2014, the company made a voluntary recall of the vehicles to repair the pipes.

Toyota claims, as noted in the NHTSA report, that it has not received any reports of fire or injuries linked to this issue as of October 8. However, in the previous years, the company received several reports and claims related to this particular issue.

Toyota vows to notify vehicle owners about the recall through mail. It said that it will repair the damage, change the gasket, and reinstall the fuel pressure sensor of the cars. They will also reimburse the money owners used to repair the issue. Owner notifications will be sent starting December this year while distributor/dealer notifications have already been sent on October 14, the company said in the NHTSA report.

Earlier, Toyota has also recalled many of its vehicles worldwide due to the faulty air bags of the Japanese firm Takata Corp.