Toyota recalls more than one million Corollas, Matrixes over engine defect

TORONTO – Toyota is recalling more than 1.3 million Corolla sedans and Matrix hatchbacks _ including about 200,000 in Canada _ continuing the string of quality problems that have hit the reputation of the world’s largest automaker.

The announcement Thursday is yet another setback for an automaker that has been beset by recalls since last fall, when it began calling back what has amounted to more than 10 million vehicles worldwide because of acceleration problems and braking flaws, among other issues.

The latest recall, over engine problems that could cause the vehicles to stall, affects more than 1.1 million cars in the United States and 200,000 in Canada sold in the 2005-2008 model years, the Japanese carmaker said.

The Corolla and Matrix are both built at Toyota’s plant in Cambridge, Ont., where it also builds the Lexus RX 350 sport utility vehicle.

Toyota Canada said it will recall approximately 136,000 Corollas and 64,300 Matrixes to address problems with the engine control modules, the computer that regulates the performance of the engine.

Toyota said there’s a possibility a crack may develop on the engines’ circuit board, which could result in illumination of the “check engine” light, difficulty shifting, problems starting the engine or even stalling in a small number of cases.

The company said it isn’t aware of any accidents or injuries related to the problem in Canada. Three accidents and one minor injury have been reported in the U.S., though Toyota said a link to the engine issue has not been confirmed.

Toyota Canada spokeswoman Sandy Di Felice said the engine control modules in newer models of Corolla and Matrix have been redesigned.

“When we relaunched the Corolla and the Matrix vehicles in model year ’09 … they had a new ECM in them, so those vehicles aren’t impacted by the recall,” she said.

Di Felice said owners will get a notice in the mail advising them when replacement parts have arrived. She said the fix should take about an hour and the cost will be covered by Toyota.

Separately, General Motors is recalling 200,000 Pontiac Vibes in North America due to the same problem, GM spokesman Alan Adler said. The Vibe is similar to the Matrix and was built under a joint venture between Toyota and GM at a now-closed factory in Fremont, Calif.

The engine control module with the possible defect was manufactured by Delphi Corp., a large auto parts supplier headquartered in Troy, Mich., according to documents filed with U.S. regulators.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating the possibility of engine stalling in the Corolla and Matrix models since late November. On Tuesday, the traffic safety agency said it had intensified its investigation.

Toyota Canada employs about 6,500 people at plants in Cambridge and Woodstock, Ont., where it builds the Corolla, Matrix, Lexus RX 350 and the RAV4 SUV.