Toyota Restarts Production of the BZ4X Three Months After Recall
Like it did with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Toyota has dragged its feet on developing and shipping new EVs. It offers several hybrid and plug-in hybrid models, and there’s even a hydrogen fuel cell model for sale in California, but Toyota did not offer an EV in the United States until just a few months ago. That should have been cause for celebration at Toyota, but a recall just a month into being on sale likely squashed any excitement. Now, the automaker says it has fixed the problems and restarted production.
Toyota recalled 2,700 SUVS globally and stopped sales of the new bZ4X over concerns that a hub bolt could come loose during sharp turns and sudden braking, which increases the chances that a wheel could fall off. It took the automaker three months to develop and implement a fix for the problem, and Toyota also made fixes to some SUVs’ airbags to reduce the chance of premature failure. The airbag issue was not a previously known problem.
Interestingly, Subaru, another slowpoke in the EV world, just released the electric Solterra, which it developed jointly with Toyota and the bZ4X project. The two are so closely related that Subaru had to recall 2,600 units of its SUV for the same issue.
[Image: Toyota]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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Looks like a less ugly Lexus.
Better check the photo at the top -- this is a Toyota story and that's clearly a Subaru.
Was anyone really clamoring to buy one?
I still think the name Bzzzzzzzzzzt! would have been better.