It's official. Toyota's Lexus luxury brand is conducting a voluntary recall of 138,000 vehicles. The recall, to replace faulty valve springs, affects the following models:
-2006-2008 IS350
-2007-2008 GS350 and GS450h
-2008 GS460
-2007-2008 LS460 and LS460L
-2008 LS600hL
The valve springs will be replaced at no charge to the vehicle owner and notifications will be shipped out in late July.
This recall is the latest in a series of quality and safety issues experienced by Toyota or Lexus vehicles. These quality concerns aren't merely being noted here in the United States, but around the world as well. This recall of 138,000 vehicles, for example, is half of a larger recall of almost 270,000 vehicles around the world.
Additionally, we broke the news last week of a recall and stop-sale of every Lexus HS250h after risk was found of excessive fuel leakage in rear-end crashes.
Cutting confidence in the action was news that Lexus knew about the engine problems necessitating this recall almost three years ago.
We've attached the following Q&A Toyota's shipped to dealers that answers important questions like "What is a valve spring?"