Toyota Motor Corp. first learned in 2008 about a defect in power-window switches that last week prompted it to recall 7.43 million vehicles worldwide for fire hazards, according to documents filed with U.S. regulators.

Toyota, based in Toyota City, Japan, received a report in September 2008 from the U.S. about “an unusual smell” from the power-window master switch and “thermal damage” to the switch, the company said in a report posted Friday on the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.

The automaker sent the part to the supplier to investigate and no “root cause” was found. No other problems with the switch were reported until May 2010, when the company said it began sporadically receiving information about an abnormal smell or smoke coming from driver’s side doors, according to the report.

“There was really no trend early on and it took considerable time to diagnose what seemed to be an isolated problem and how it was occurring,” John Hanson, a U.S.-based spokesman for Toyota, said in an e-mail.

In 2009 and 2010, Toyota, Asia’s biggest carmaker, recalled a record number of vehicles worldwide for defects that may cause unintended acceleration. The company in April 2010 agreed to pay a record $16.4 million U.S. fine for failing to promptly report the flaws with vehicle accelerator pedals.

“I’m a little disappointed in that Toyota didn’t act sooner especially because of the debacle in 2010 and, more importantly, the tragedy in 2010,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with IHS Automotive, referring to deaths that occurred due to unintended acceleration. “It’s not surprising that they would delay given their pattern of resisting recalls historically.”

The U.S. auto-safety regulator opened an investigation into about 830,000 Camry cars and RAV4 crossover sport-utility vehicles in February after receiving six reports of fires that started in the window switch. It’s received reports of nine injuries and 161 fires, Lynda Tran, a NHTSA spokeswoman, said.

“NHTSA is aware of the recall announced by Toyota” on Oct. 10 and is in contact with the manufacturer, Tran said in an e- mail. “The agency’s investigation remains open pending its review of Toyota’s documents regarding its recall action.”

Toyota didn’t mention any injuries related to the faulty parts when it announced the recall two days ago because the public relations department didn’t have the information at the time, according to Dion Corbett, a Tokyo-based Toyota spokesman.

Corbett also said the automaker didn’t report any accidents from the faulty parts because it defines “accidents” as “collisions and crashes” and there were none resulting from the switch defect.

With the increasing number of fire reports coming shortly after congressional hearings and market-share losses in the U.S., Toyota would have likely been loath to recall more vehicles then for another defect, IHS’s Lindland said.

“The last thing they could really withstand at that point was another recall,” she said in an interview. “I would guess the strategy may have been to address the 10 or 11 complaints and avoid doing a recall at all costs.”

According to a report posted on NHTSA’s website, the driver of a 2007 Camry reported noticing “black smoke throughout the car” that “immediately turned into flames, which caused poor visibility and complete panic” for the driver and three passengers in the car on Dec. 26, 2011. The flames burned the driver’s coat and a passenger’s hand as he tried to put it out.

“It was a frightening experience for myself and family members as I strongly feel that no one has a clear explanation as to the cause of the fire and fails to ensure my family’s safety and wellbeing,” the driver wrote in the report.

The carmaker didn’t provide an estimate on the costs of the recall.

The recall includes about 2.47 million vehicles in the U.S., 1.4 million in China and 1.39 million in Europe, Joichi Tachikawa, a Tokyo-based spokesman, said Oct. 10. It includes vehicles from model years 2007 to 2009 from models including the Camry, RAV4, Corolla, Tundra, Sequoia and Yaris.

Tokai Rika Co, which Toyota confirmed in its NHTSA filing as the supplier of the faulty switches, rose 2.5 percent after slumping 9.6 percent yesterday to the lowest level since March 2009.
 
(Bloomberg)