UMW Toyota Motor issues a recall for 82,457 units of Toyota Fortuner, Innova and Hilux

UMW Toyota Motor is conducting a recall (using the super politically correct term 'special service campaign'  ) for 82,457 units of Toyota models consisting of the Toyota Hilux, Toyota Innova and Toyota Fortuner manufactured from year 2005 – 2010 and sold in Malaysia.

This campaign is conducted to replace a spiral cable on affected Hilux, Innova and Fortuner. The driver’s airbag module in the involved vehicles is attached to a spiral cable assembly with electrical connections that could be damaged when the steering wheel is turned. If this occurs, the air bag warning lamp will illuminate and the driver’s air bag could be deactivated, and most probably may not deploy in the event of a crash.

UMW Toyota Motor will contact all Hilux, Innova and Fortuner customers involved to carry out the necessary corrective measures at no cost. The company also states that no other models it sold are affected by this campaign.

For details, call 1-800-8-TOYOTA (1-800-8-869682).

This is in conjunction with the recent announcement made by Toyota Motor Corp (Global) that a special service campaign concerning possible damage of spiral cable in the Hilux, Innova and Fortuner. 

This reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon I read recently - 'Item overheats' so market it as 'Red Hot Specification!!!!' Of course, folks, if you do own one of these, and is not a car thief with the intention of car-jacking one for sale in Laos, Vietnam or Myanmar, do head over to the local Toyota service center. If you are a car thief, hope you get into a car crash and the airbag doesn't work.

Some Mercedes Benz news over at motoring-malaysia.com - Run out W204 C200 and SL400

Mercedes Benz Malaysia has brought out the final edition W204 C-class before it starts bringing in the W205 by the end of this year. Only one model, the C200 CGI Avantgarde with AMG Styling will be sold at regular C200 prices. A 'bargain' at RM254,888.00. It basically has everything included in the previous C250 and C300 sold here but with the 184bhp C200 specced engine. Take a look at it over here at motoring-malaysia.com.

Over in Europe, Mercedes Benz has discontinued the SL350 for a SL400. This is a downgrade in engine size - 3,500cc to 3,000cc BUT a change from normally aspirated to turbocharging has enabled an increase in horsepower and torque. Good for road tax expensive Malaysia when it comes here. Click here to go there.

VW Group via Audi prepares for new engine technology and I am quite worried

The VW TSI engine

The latest news circulating in and around the automotive world is how Volkswagen Group intends to make electric turbochargers,variable compression ratios, cylinder deactivation (all on engines) and coasting (on the transmission) a reality. 

On variable compression ratios for the engine:
Audi Technical chief Ulrich Hackenberg gave no details on how Audi will introduce variable compression ratio technology, but what this means is that the car's engine can have a high compression ratio of a direct injected petrol engine of around 15:1 and when under high loads especially if it is turbocharged and boost is coming on drops to say 11:1. The luxury of being able to have variable compression ratio depending on the load and power demands makes this something all engineers chase after. It would be ultra efficient too.

Sunday Car Porn: Fiat 131 Abarth

I have a soft spot for everything Fiat, especially the Fiat 131 Mirafiori. This was because the car was one which I had my earliest motoring memories. My father owned one of these and we travelled distances throughout the Malaysian Peninsular before the days of the North-South Highways. I was a good car to own, but it had the dreaded Italian car rust problem of the 1970s. Made from cheap Russian steel they rusted even before leaving the factory in Italy. But today, rust aside, we're talking about the special version - the Fiat 131 Abarth.