Toyota Temporarily Halts Sales of Lexus GX 460 SUV

By Greg Chang and Alan Ohnsman
April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. has asked its
dealers to temporarily halt sales of the automaker’s Lexus GX
460 sport-utility vehicles, the luxury brand’s General Manager
Mark Templin said in an e-mailed statement.
The redesigned SUV was labeled a “safety risk” by
Consumer Reports, complicating efforts by the world’s largest
automaker to repair its image after record recalls.
The 2010 GX 460 received the designation and “don’t buy”
recommendation because of handling in emergency driving tests,
Consumer Reports said yesterday in a statement. The magazine,
published by Yonkers, New York-based Consumers Union, said it
hadn’t deemed any vehicle a potential safety risk since 2001.
The GX’s rear end “slid out until the vehicle was almost
sideways before the electronic stability control system was able
to regain control” at a Connecticut test track, the magazine
said. “In real-world driving, that situation could lead to a
rollover accident, which could cause serious injury or death,”
Consumer Reports said.
Toyota’s recalls of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide
for defects linked to unintended acceleration and brakes have
hurt its reputation and led to U.S. congressional hearings and a
rebuke by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The U.S. assessed
a $16.4 million penalty against Toyota for delaying its recall
of sticky accelerator pedals and said there may be more fines.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
said it’s in the process of checking the GX 460 to ensure
compliance with standards for electronic stability control,
which “should prevent the kind of fishtail event described in
the CU’s tests.” Drivers of the Lexus SUV should “use care and
caution,” the agency said in a statement.
Toyota’s U.S. sales rose 41 percent in March after two
months of declines, as the automaker offered incentives such as
no-interest loans and discount leases. The March gains included
a 42 percent increase for Lexus. GX sales tripled last month to
1,785 and rose almost threefold to 4,787 in the first quarter.