Toyota and Pontiac Recall Over 600,000 Vehicles

Been There, Done That

News reporters and automotive bloggers are filling the web today with information concerning a Toyota recall of 539,500 Corolla and Matrix cars yesterday. As the owner of a 2001 Acura CL S-type, I'm no stranger to a car recall, and offer some insight into what might be in store for the owners of a Toyota Corolla, a Toyota Matrix, or even a GM Pontiac Vibe that was produced in 2003-2004.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the cars are being recalled because, "the bolts in the power window system can become loose and ultimately cause a window to shatter." The recall also relates to a recall issued by General Motors (GM) for 122,000 Pontiac Vibe cars. Each car is manufactured at the same location, and is being recalled for the same bolt issue after reported cases of windows shattering in each of the three vehicles. The recall reportedly only impacts power windows, not manual windows.

The recall that affected me involved my husband's 2001 Acura CL S-type, a 2-door luxury coupe or sporty coupe. A few years after the purchase of the car in February of 2001, my husband read online about problems that fellow Acura owners were having with their transmissions. In essence, the transmission would fail, leaving the car undriveable. Though my husband never experienced a complete failure with the transmission on his 2001 Acura CL S-Type, he did experience moments when he felt that the transmission was having a hiccup of sorts.

Neither of us thought much of these hesitations with the transmission or the complaints that we saw online until we received an official letter in the mail from Acura. Unlike the recall by Toyota of the 2003-2004 Toyota Corolla, the 2003-2004 Toyota Matrix, or the GM recall of the 2003-2004 GM Pontiac Vibe, my husband's recall didn't get as much media attention because there were substantially less cars involved in the recall.