Lebanon's 2nd Hand Toyotas Might be Affected By Recall! Here's How You Can Find Out...

 Hi there everyone,

This is one of those informal posts we promised we will have in the blog, among things we can't publish.

You certainly been hearing a lot about the Toyota recall issue and wonder what it is all about.It surely is full fledged in the U.S.A, but how are Toyota's in Lebanon affected? More after the Jump


Toyota is currently the world's largest car-maker, and incidentally, has one of history's largest product recalls on their hands. Starting in late 2009, the American National Highway Transport Safety Association along with Toyota issued a recall on a few million Lexus and Toyota vehicle because their gas pedal was getting stuck with the bulky all weather Floormats. A number of accidents had been caused by this with a few of them claiming innocent, avoidable fatalities.

With further investigation, it was also found that the design of the gas pedal in a number of Toyota models was flawed and caused the pedal to stick in full-on position under some circumstances. A second recall, also involving millions of cars was issued in the U.S, this time halting production in 8 American Toyota assembly plants. Shortly after that January recall, it was discovered that the brakes on the last generation Prius Hybrid were faulty and were causing accidents.

Now I know people say good things happen in threes, but three recalls are not so good for a giant like Toyota.

Now that we got the core of the issue out of the way we move on to what interests us.

Lebanon is a very large market for Gray imports; otherwise know as second hand vehicles. And Toyota has a large chunk of that market. There are many Rav4s, some Camry's, and Tundra's as well as other models that are sourced as second hand from the U.S market.

These cars have been manufactured and sold initially in the U.S.A and are as such very likely subject to the recall.

BUMC, Lebanon's Toyota/Lexus Dealer have issued a statement last week in national papers that the vehicles they sell as new are not sourced from the Plants that are affected by the recall. And naturally, BUMC is not going to take responsibility of the gray imports that might be affected by the recall (So far I have not seen a release from them suggesting otherwise).

So there it remains, if you own a Toyota that is affected by the recall and lived in the US, it's easy, you take it to a Toyota dealer, and he will fix it, regardless of whether you bought it new or not. But what happens if you own it in Lebanon? Who should you turn to in order to address this problem?

We, on the ArabWheels Blog are trying to help those in Lebanon that own a second hand Toyota/Lexus sourced from the US to find out whether their vehicle is concerned by the Recall, you can do that by inserting your car’s VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), in this link. Insert VIN Here

If the query turns out positive, then your safety, and that of those who you carry around is compromised and you should act.

Our suggestion is that you drive to the Toyota dealer in your area, and demand that the fault be rectified. In all cases, the costs should be covered by Toyota Global, as all Toyota vehicles affected in a recall fall under the responsibility of the global corporation, and the local dealer will only be doing the work and his costs covered, so they shouldn't refuse. If they do, please report back to us...

(Please don't go selling the car to unsuspecting buyer, because if he is hurt, you will be responsible, whether you know about it or not.)

The repair is rather easy and takes about 70 minutes to complete, so it shouldn’t be much of a hassle, especially knowing that your safety and that of your loved ones is at risk…


We will keep you posted of any updates