Toyota motor offers free replacement of Hilux part

The Philippine unit of Japanese automotive giant Toyota has announced a special service campaign for their Toyota Hilux GR-S pickup, noting the possibility of a faulty sports bar on more than 3,200 units of the vehicle that were sold in the Philippines.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Thursday posted the notice from Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMPC) dated June 10, explaining the part replacement will cover 3,244 units of the vehicle model that were sold from July 27 last year to April 24 this year.

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“Involved vehicles are equipped with a sports bar affixed through brackets. Under certain severe usage conditions, the brackets may crack causing the sports bar to potentially detach from the vehicle,” the TMPC said in the advisory.

“If this occurs, it could become hazardous to other vehicles and pose a safety risk for pedestrian traffic,” the company added.

The TMPC advisory said that they will inform affected customers through an official notification letter and will be invited by authorized Toyota dealers to replace the sports bar with a new and improved one at no cost to the vehicle owners.“However, while the replacement part is not yet available, our authorized Toyota dealers will remove the sports bar to prevent potential problems from occurring,” the company said.

“Please note that our authorized Toyota dealers will contact involved customers once the replacement part becomes available.” it added.

Last March, TMPC also announced a service campaign to reprogram, for free, the automatic transmission electronic control unit of the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 that were sold in the country.

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The carmaker cited an issue in the design of the brake clutch disc, which could cause delayed disengagement when shifting to neutral.

“This could lead to involuntary low-speed forward movement if the foot brake or parking brake is not applied, that may increase the risk of a collision,” said the company.

Covered in the said campaign, the company said, were 3,420 units sold from July 21, 2021 to January 12, 2024.

Toyota currently dominates the Philippine market with a share of about 46 percent, based on the May 2024 sales data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and the Truck Manufacturers Association.