Toyota halts sales of 'rollover risk' Lexus

Embattled car giant Toyota moved today to halt sales of its Lexus GX 460 after an American magazine said the SUV could roll over and told readers not to buy it.

Consumer Reports gave the GX 460 a rare “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk” label until the problem was fixed.

Toyota said late last night that it had asked dealers to temporarily suspend sales of the seven-seat SUV while it conducted its own tests.

“We are taking the situation with the GX 460 very seriously and are determined to identify and correct the issue Consumer Reports identified,” said Lexus vice president and general manager Mark Templin.

The decision to stop selling the SUV is the latest blow to Toyota’s tarnished safety reputation after the recall of millions of cars and trucks over accelerator pedals that are too slow to retract or that can become stuck under floor mats. The GX 460 is not covered by the pedal recalls.

Toyota said about 6,000 had been sold since the vehicle went on sale in late December.

Consumer Reports is closely read by many US car buyers before choosing a new vehicle. In January it pulled its “recommended” rating on eight vehicles recalled by Toyota due to faulty accelerator pedals.

The magazine said the Lexus problem occurred during tests on its track. In a standard test, the driver approached a turn unusually fast, then released the accelerator pedal to simulate the response of an alarmed driver. This caused the rear of the vehicle to slide outwards.

In normal cases the electronic stability control should quickly correct the loss of control and keep the SUV on its intended path.

But with the GX 460, the stability control took too long to adjust, which could cause a rollover accident if one of the sliding wheels were to strike the curb or another obstacle, said Gabriel Shenhar, Consumer Reports’ senior car test engineer who was one of four testers who experienced the problem.

The magazine said it was not aware of any reports of the GX 460 rolling over. It tested two separate vehicles, both of which experienced the problem, but neither rolled over.

The warning label on the model will remain until Toyota addresses the handling issue with the seven-seat SUV.

Mr Templin said he was “confident that the GX meets our high safety standards” and said Toyota’s engineering teams were testing the GX using Consumer Reports’ specific conditions. Lexus said it would provide a loan car for any customer who bought a 2010 GX 460 and was concerned about driving the vehicle.

The “Don’t Buy” label is unlikely to hurt Toyota’s broader sales since the GX 460 accounts for a fraction of its total, said Erich Merkle, president of the consulting company Autoconomy.com in Grand Rapids, Michigan. However, it comes at an unfortunate time as the car maker tries to move beyond the recalls.

“I think it will have a bigger impact from a negative-PR perspective than from an actual sales perspective,” Mr Merkle said.

The GX 460, which starts at about €38,000, is built on the same platform as the Toyota 4Runner. But, Consumer Reports said the problem did not occur during similar tests on the 4Runner.

According to Toyota’s website, both vehicles are about 6ft tall but the GX 460 is about 3ins taller.

Consumer Reports said the last vehicle to receive such a safety warning was the 2001 Mitsubishi Montero Limited, a large SUV.

In that case, testers said the wheels lifted off the road during standard avoidance-manoeuvre tests, which also posed a rollover risk.

At the time, Mitsubishi disputed the magazine’s findings and did not make any modifications to the vehicle, Mitsubishi spokesman Dan Irvin said.

The designation appeared to have little effect on the Montero’s sales, which increased overall during the second half of 2001.

The Montero remained on sale in the US until 2007 and continues to be sold overseas as the Mitsubishi Pajero.