3rd Gen Block Heater Recall

I did some more digging and found this website - https://media.toyota.ca/releases/to...lving-certain-toyota-lexus-and-scion-vehicles

Looks like Toyota will notify affected owners mid January. The "Thermal Incidents" are not just from faulty extension cords, but include faulty block heaters.

I'm sure they'll be a few more burnt out trucks, garages and homes before this is rectified.

A copy and paste of the text from the above website, is provided below:

TORONTO, Ontario – November 24, 2021 – Toyota Canada Inc. (TCI) announced that it is conducting safety recalls of certain accessory engine block heaters installed by dealers in some Toyota, Lexus, and Scion vehicles. Approximately 51,373 vehicles are involved in Canada.

The subject vehicles are equipped with a dealer installed accessory engine block heater. Due to insufficient consideration for thermal durability at the time of block heater applicability, certain engine models that were manufactured with an oblong block bore were recommended an inappropriate block heater shape that allowed for a gap when the block heater cartridge was inserted. This can lead to an increase in temperature, which can exceed the allowable limit of the block heater electrical power cord insulation material. In addition, the electrical power cord insulation material of some other block heaters produced after 2016 may have used certain compositions that, when exposed to the high temperatures generated by block heaters, may degrade over time. There is a possibility that these conditions may cause a short circuit and increase the risk of a thermal event.

Owners of involved vehicles will be notified by mid-January 2022.

Information about automotive recalls, including but not limited to the list of involved vehicles, is current as of today’s filing date and is subject to change thereafter. For the most up-to-date Safety Recall Information on Toyota and Lexus vehicles, customers and guests should check their vehicle’s status by visiting Toyota.ca/recall or lexus.ca/recall and entering their Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).

For any additional questions, customer support is also available by calling Toyota Customer Interaction Centre at 1-888-TOYOTA-8 (1-888-869-6828) or Lexus Guest Service at 1-800-26-LEXUS (1-800-265-3987).​

 

good find. At least there’s some movement.

@mrbeggins did you plug the truck in a lot? Toyota’s making it sound like that’s the cause, whether it’s true or not. Curious because I bet most of us don’t plug it in a lot (I’ve only used it once since I normally park inside).

 

Very interesting.

 

its only been plugged in when it’s this -40 bullshit. Otherwise anything about -25 I don’t bother

 

Well that’s not a good sign then. How long was the block heater in your truck? Day 1? Got a lot of miles on it?

 

Day 1 yea. Pretty standard for up here in canadastan. Truck has 140xxxkm

 

Keep us posted on any updates. Any thoughts on a replacement vehicle?

 

Glad everyone is ok, thanks for sharing this crappy situation. This winter I’ve been lazy and have been leaving it plugged in day/night not on the timer I usually use. Maybe I’ll rethink that!

 

I have a KAT's aftermarket block heater so I am probably OK but I will go with a timer and only an hour or two of heat.

The other day I had the block heater plugged in for 10 hours at -10C ambient temp. With a Cdn Tire heat sensor gun I got reads of around 1C and a little lower at the front of the engine (the block heater is located at the rear of the engine, driver's side), so it must be working.

It sounds like part of the problem could be improper installation of certain model years wherein the heater is not fully clipped in to the slot in the engine block.

 

Contacted Toyota Canada this morning. Talked to someone in an office. Guess that’s a start. They took a bunch of information down. Said I’ll be contacted by management today ASAP. ‍♂️

We’ll see….

 

Ok, a couple things when I had block heaters I plugged them in a dedicated switch and would only run them for 2-3 hours it was recommended to run 4hrs or less per instruction for a while when they had this problem for a couple yrs. Once I started synthetic oil I haven't had or used one

 

Always plug into a GFCI. Even before seeing any recall or fires I've made sure to do this. Most outdoor plugs are anyway but I bet many run an extension cord from inside the garage or house which wouldn't be protected.

Like others have said use a timer or switch a well. Running your block heater all night is a waste of money and can, as we've seen, prolong a fire risk.

 

Holy shit.

Guess I'll wait on this one... These 10 minute run times on the remote start don't even break the cold level on the dash sometimes. I'd be more interested is something to heat the tranny up a bit too. I know you can buy heat pads for stuff like that but I have done zero research on it for the Tacoma.

 

The make oil pan heaters I believe they are magnetic or taped on with special tape, could be applied to the transmission.

 

This is correct. I used the magnetic ones, when I drove a delivery truck, to keep the transmission and hydraulic oil warm.

Frankly I hated them, because you after you got the truck started, you had crawl under the vehicle to remove them. The magnets were not strong enough to hold them in place on a moving vehicle. I think I lost a couple in the years that I drove, because I forgot to remove them before I set off driving.

This all was all 25 years ago, so maybe they have better designs now.

 

Another update…

Transport Canada is involved. They came and took pictures of the truck yesterday afternoon. Said this is going to be a very good truck to investigate as it didn’t completely burn.

As far as Toyota Canada…didn’t get very far. Which I expected. They know they fucked up. Biiiiiig time. The second I mentioned Transport Canada was involved the lady on the phone went quiet and said “I don’t think we need to go that far”. In which we all know vehicle manufacturers are regulated by transport Canada.

Also stopped by cochrane Toyota yesterday morning. (I’ve bought my last two trucks there). They ran the vin and confirmed they were the ones who installed the block heater back in 2018 when the original owner bought it.

We’ll see what happens. In a truthful and honest world…anyone and everyone would want Toyota Canada to pipe up, take the truck back, investigate it And say “here’s a brand new truck at no cost mr. Tucker”. But, really I don’t think that’s happening hahaha.

what bugs me the most is they 100% knew about the issue. Lady from Toyota Canada obviously ran my vin and said this truck is part of the recall, along with 53 000 other trucks in Canada. We’ve known about it since 2016. Like wtf…

this is a serious issue guys. 53 000! I know there’s a lot of merica folks reading this too, but this partakes mostly for the Canadian folk. Run your Vin on the Canada site. If your truck is under the recall, don’t even plug it in until it’s fixed.

And not to mention the fix for this issue is completely removing the block heater and cutting the cord. Again wtf. It’s been -30 to -42 some night here.

good job Toyota. Good job….

 

I wondered the same thing, why plug it in while in the garage? Just that enclosure would keep it from freezing, thus the purpose of the block heater...thought this was some kind of April Fool's until I saw the post date.

 

Thanks for the updates. Please keep them coming. Only word of advice (for the paranoid out there) is if you do post, don't include any identifiable information in case Toyota offers some sort of settlement in the future.

You can guarantee that the Toyota lawyers are on high alert right now.

What really bothers me is while Toyota knows about this issue, hence the "pre-recall", but there is no guidance from them telling owners to avoid to use the block heater until the issue is remedied.

I spoke to some relatives about it, as they own a 2016 Lexus. While their vehicles were not affected (pre-2018) for this particular recall, they have a separate block heater recall. The Service Manager told them not to plug in their vehicles until Toyota/Lexus comes up with a remedy (they live in Saskatchewan, so that's not really easy to do in the dead of winter). The Service Manager also told them to ensure they have a good battery, and that their vehicle is designed to start in temps up to -50..... Good battery or not, I have trouble believing that one. In -50 your battery will likely be frozen without a battery blanket.

All I know is that with my Tacoma (using synthetic engine oil), with a brand new high cold cranking battery in it, it still makes funny noises when I start when it's not plugged in in -25 and colder temps.

 

Yikes. This is too close to home (I live in Calgary) but am glad to hear you are okay. No notice on my 2020 but I checked my old 2016 VIN and there is now a notice out on this issue. I have had my truck plugged in for weeks straight now lol.

 

Good call getting Transport Canada involved. Hopefully that'll get Toyota moving.