Toyota and its sister company, Lexus, have a great reputation when it comes to how reliable its cars are. That said, neither Toyota nor Lexus are perfect, and both have had issues in the past. Here’s a look at the recent lawsuit that alleged that a recent problem with Toyota’s fuel pumps is larger than it seems.

A look at the class-action lawsuit against Toyota and Lexus

Earlier this year, Toyota & Lexus recalled nearly 700,000 cars before expanding that recall to nearly 2,000,000 cars. This massive recall was over the same issue that the cars had with fuel pumps. The fuel pumps were made by DENSO, and had a defective design that could cause the car to suffer some significant issues. 

According to Car Complaints, these fuel pump issues could be minor, or more severe. At worst, it could lead to the car not starting or the engine stalling while it’s on the road. Obviously, this is a serious problem and it’s why some owners have started a class-action lawsuit against Toyota. The owners alleged that Toyota had known that the DENSO fuel pumps were defective, and they point to a patent filing from DENSO in 2016 as proof.

That patent filing from DENSO mentioned the issue with the fuel pumps, and as a result, Toyota should’ve known about that issue for a long time, according to Car Complaints. Due to that, the lawsuit claimed that the list of affected vehicles is actually much larger than 2,000,000.

The owners want refunds and compensation for their cars, and the owners also want Toyota to recall or replace the rest of the affected vehicles. 

How widespread this issue is

Originally, the 2,000,000-vehicle recall affected mostly cars in the 2018-2019 model years. However, this lawsuit alleged that since Toyota and Lexus should have known about this issue since 2013, many cars from 2013 onwards could’ve been affected as well. These cars should have fuel pumps that have part numbers that begin with 23220 and 23221, according to Car Complaints. 

There’s a very long list of affected cars in the original recall, according to Car Complaints, and while most were in the 2018-2019 model years, many Toyota and Lexus models from after 2013 are included in the recall.

That being said, while the 2013 model year was the earliest model year that was recalled due to this DENSO fuel pump issue, only two models from the 2013 model year were part of the list. 

The 2013 Lexus LS 460 and the 2013 Lexus GS 350 were the only models from the 2013 model year that were recalled. On top of that, several of Toyota’s most popular cars, such as the Camry, the Corolla, and the Tacoma, were only somewhat affected by this fuel pump recall. Only the 2018-2019 model years of those popular vehicles were recalled.

How many Toyota and Lexus vehicles could be impacted by this lawsuit?

Since this class action lawsuit is still in the courts, Toyota’s original recall hasn’t changed in scope just yet. However, if what the lawsuit alleged is true, then that could mean a lot more recalled cars. It’s difficult to know how many cars could ultimately be recalled, but if the lawsuit is correct and Toyota did know about this issue since 2013, then there should be an even bigger list of recalled models.

For instance, most model years of Toyota’s most popular models were not recalled. However, if every Camry, Corolla, and Tacoma from 2013 onwards had this DENSO fuel pump problem, then that could mean millions of more recalled cars. But of course, since these are just allegations, they may not be true and those model years of those popular cars may not have that fuel pump issue.