Toyota Recalls Crossovers After Installing Reflectors Instead of Turn Signal Light Bulbs
Toyota has a slightly embarrassing recall. It admits that some customers brought their bZ4X crossovers into the dealership for a taillight replacement. But instead of a wired light, they got a simple reflector installed.
Don’t worry, this isn’t nearly as large a recall as Toyota’s recent 1 million vehicle recall.
Fans of foreign cars will know that the U.S. has some of the strictest turn signal laws around. For example, vehicles for the U.S. market must have a “side marker” flashing turn signal that’s visible when looking at the car from the side.
When automakers build a variation of the same model for a different market, they may leave this spot smooth metal. They might install a side marker signal for simplicity’s sake. Or in the case of the Toyota bZ4X, they may choose to have the same “lighting fixture” filled with a simple reflector instead.
So what happened to these recalled Toyotas? The replacement tail light assemblies that dealerships had in stock were engineered for the South Korean market. Thus, no “side marker” flashing light. But to maintain the same shape as U.S.-market bZ4Xs, they got a reflector filling the same space.
How did this happen? Toyota says it was a simple misprint: the word USA appeared in the description of the South Korean replacement lights in its internal parts catalogue.
The automaker suspects just 79 of these assemblies were shipped to U.S. dealerships. It will sort out which customer cars had them installed and contact owners for a free replacement of their replacement.
