[rfrancis073]

Credit to Motch6 for pointing this out in another thread. Seems Toyota has changed from lug nuts to the VW style lug bolts. It seems to stem from that design change.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2022-06-23/toyota-recalls-2-700-electric-vehicles

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp on Thursday recalled 2,700 of its first mass-produced electric vehicles because of a danger that wheels could come loose.
The world's largest automaker by sales submitted the recall of the bZ4X SUVs to Japan's transportation ministry. Of the 2,700 vehicles, 2,200 were earmarked for Europe, 260 for the United States, 20 for Canada and 110 for Japan, the company said.

(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by David Goodman)
Copyright 2022 Thomson Reuters.

From Motch6, including recall number.

Finally someone posted the reason for the 90-hold at port!!!

https://www.asiafinancial.com/toyota-recalls-newly-released-ev-over-safety-issue?fbclid=IwAR0hJEK5Q4BCj4jyAZM1Hts8D8GELJKOQzYI8kw47TnfFRh1VVcqJSGFry8

And the official Toyota bulletin…

View attachment 806

 

[n6nl]

Japanese domestic market Solterra FWD and AWD are also recalled. Use Google translate or Safari translate if you don't read Japanese.

See:

ソルテラのリコールについて | リコール | 株式会社SUBARU（スバル）

2202_0623_1z_2022-06-22-152112.jpg | 株式会社SUBARU（スバル）

 

[rfrancis073]

From here:

Toyota, Subaru shares drop on "embarrassing" recalls of first EVs

Toyota Motor shares slipped after it recalled some of its first mass-made all-electric cars, launched two months ago, because of a risk of wheels coming loose, a setback to its ambitions to electrify its model range.

www.reuters.com

TOKYO, June 24 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor (7203.T)shares slipped after it recalled some of its first mass-made all-electric cars, launched two months ago, because of a risk of wheels coming loose, a setback to its ambitions to electrify its model range.

Toyota, the world's largest automaker by sales, said on Thursday it would recall 2,700 bZ4X SUVs globally.

Subaru Corp (7270.T), in which Toyota has a nearly 20% stake, also said it was recalling about 2,600 units of the Solterra, a related model.

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The Solterra, Subaru's first all-electric vehicle, was jointly developed with Toyota and shares major components with the bZ4X.

The recall adds to problems at Toyota, which has been forced to cut production frequently this year due to the global chip shortage and other supply issues and is facing investor pressure because of its slowness in embracing battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

"It's embarrassing," said Christopher Richter, an analyst at CLSA. "People have waited so long for Toyota to get a mass market battery electric vehicle ... and just a few weeks after they get it in the market there's a recall."

But it "was not an indictment of the new electric vehicle system " he added, because the problem was a simple mechanical one and the fix was unlikely to be expensive.

Japan's safety regulator said sharp turns and sudden braking could cause a hub bolt to loosen, raising the risk of a wheel coming off the vehicle. It said it was not aware of any accidents being caused by the defect.


The problem was discovered after people in the United States had driven the cars, said an official at Japan's Ministry of Transport, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

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Toyota had reported that one car, in particular, had been roughly handled. "We don't know who the driver was, but the driver drove the car very hard," the official said, adding that Toyota had found the problem, which affected only a few cars.

Spokespeople at Toyota and Subaru said the companies had not yet decided how soon they could fix the problem and proceed with the rollout, because the cause had not yet been determined.

Toyota said on Thursday that not every car of this model was subject to the recall but declined to say how many it had built overall.

Subaru shares, which fell nearly 5% on Friday, closed down 2.8%. Toyota stock closed 0.7%lower.

Once a favourite with environmentalists for its popular hybrid Prius model, Toyota has come under fire for not acting quickly enough to phase out gasoline-powered cars and for its lobbying on climate policy.

The company has repeatedly pushed back against the criticism, arguing the necessity to offer a variety of powertrains to suit different markets and customers. read more

Japan changed a key policy document to show its support for hybrids was on par that for with BEVs after a lawmaker cited the head of Toyota saying automakers could not back a government that rejected the technology popularised by the Prius, Reuters reported on Friday. read more

Gasoline-electric hybrid models remain far more popular in Toyota's home market than EVs, which accounted for just 1% of passenger cars sold in Japan last year, based on industry data.

If the cause hasn't been determined, how can they say not every car was subject to the recall?

 

[Motch6]

From here:

Toyota, Subaru shares drop on "embarrassing" recalls of first EVs

Toyota Motor shares slipped after it recalled some of its first mass-made all-electric cars, launched two months ago, because of a risk of wheels coming loose, a setback to its ambitions to electrify its model range.

www.reuters.com

If the cause hasn't been determined, how can they say not every car was subject to the recall?

Just read a THEORY about what may be going on, but we need someone with actual ownership to confirm!

Theory is this... Toyota Switched to LUG BOLTS on these cars instead of using the standard Bolt and LUG NUT configuration... Therefore it may make sense that they don't have an idea yet on how to fix this issue... if these Lug Bolts are twisting out! Sounds like they'll need a bigger bolt?? that would be the cheapest... but what do you do when that doesn't fix it? then you have to fix the more expensive thing, and replace the HUBS with ones that have bolts in them (Standard on most cars) and then provide Lug Nuts.

 

[Motch6]

Just read a THEORY about what may be going on, but we need someone with actual ownership to confirm!

Theory is this... Toyota Switched to LUG BOLTS on these cars instead of using the standard Bolt and LUG NUT configuration... Therefore it may make sense that they don't have an idea yet on how to fix this issue... if these Lug Bolts are twisting out! Sounds like they'll need a bigger bolt?? that would be the cheapest... but what do you do when that doesn't fix it? then you have to fix the more expensive thing, and replace the HUBS with ones that have bolts in them (Standard on most cars) and then provide Lug Nuts.

Nevermind, I guess my questions and Theory has been answered... yes... looks like they changed to LUG BOLTS.. ugh.

 

[n6nl]

NHTSA documents are up. Search for:

NHTSA ID: 22V444000

The most interesting reading is in section 6 of this:

RMISC-22V444-4456.pdf

 

[Bz4Me]

NHTSA documents are up. Search for:

NHTSA ID: 22V444000

The most interesting reading is in section 6 of this:

RMISC-22V444-4456.pdf

Very informative thank you for that! Can’t imagine this going to be a quick fix. I doubt just converting to stud and nut would solve it if they haven’t figured out why they loosen. Choosing Toyota for quality feels like it’s backfiring at the moment haha.

 

[n6nl]

From the Defect Information Report to NHTSA:

Toyota received a field technical report from the Taiwan market indicating separation of the front left wheel from the vehicle. Toyota recovered the wheels and hub bolts from this vehicle for investigation.

Toyota then received two field technical reports from the U.S. market. One of the reports indicated loose hub bolts of the front left wheel and the other indicated a separation of the front left wheel from the vehicle. Toyota reviewed the production process at the vehicle assembly plant and did not identify any abnormalities on the hub bolt tightening history of these three vehicles. Toyota also reviewed the assembly process of the wheel and hub bolts at the assembly plant and did not identify any abnormalities. In addition, although damage was observed on the wheel recovered from the vehicle in the Taiwan market, the damage was believed to be a result of the wheel separating from the vehicle and the cause of the loosening of the hub bolts was not able to be identified. Toyota continued to investigate and conducted a driving test using mass production wheels and hub bolts that were tightened to specification. The testing showed that the hub bolts loosened under certain severe driving patterns.

I added the italic emphasis. It seems that it's reproducible, to some extent.

 

[Motch6]

From the Defect Information Report to NHTSA:



I added the italic emphasis. It seems that it's reproducible, to some extent.

well that’s sucks! I can now see why they haven’t determined a fix! Since they tested everything separately and found no issues until they drove the car themselves! Sooo, why would they loosen then?

any other Toyotas using the BOLT design? If not then this could be expensive to switch out wheels, hubs and Nuts! Yikes!

 

[Bz4Me]

well that’s sucks! I can now see why they haven’t determined a fix! Since they tested everything separately and found no issues until they drove the car themselves! Sooo, why would they loosen then?

any other Toyotas using the BOLT design? If not then this could be expensive to switch out wheels, hubs and Nuts! Yikes!

My next concern is how are the cars being treated this whole time? Potentially my car will be sitting at the port for 90 days. Is the battery getting charged? Would suck to have a degraded battery from day 1

 

[n6nl]

any other Toyotas using the BOLT design? If not then this could be expensive to switch out wheels, hubs and Nuts! Yikes!

Supra Mk V

 

[StevenH]

Wonder if the same issue affects the Lexus RZ450e?

 

[n6nl]

That will depend upon what the problem is. If it is the machining of the mounting holes in the wheels, perhaps with different wheels, it‘s not a problem. There are quite a few things this could be. Let’s see what they come up with. The have a fine engineering team.