Image: FAW Toyota
Toyota in April launched the new bZ3 electric sedan in China with high hopes, given it was one of its first fully electric vehicle in the world’s biggest EV market.
Just three months into it, the model has been recalled with rear doors potentially opening while the car is in motion. In the other extreme, the doors can remain locked in an emergency.
That’s due to a fault with the sedan’s rear door locks. The design of the outer door handle and the materials its made of cause a gap between the handle itself and the lock. The gap malfunction worsens in hotter and more humid weather.
According to a local media outlet, Gasgoo, 12,205 Toyota bZ3 vehicles sold in China during the last three months were part of the rear door lock recall.
Credit: Chinese Ministry for Industry and Information Technology, via CnEVPost.
Toyota sells vehicles in the Chinese market via a joint venture (JV), known as FAW-Toyota. The JV is recalling the affected vehicles and is replacing the rear door locks.
On top of that, additional gaskets in the rear door locks are also being installed to ensure higher levels of safety.
The thousands of affected owners are also being advised by the manufacturer to stop using their vehicles immediately and contact the dealership as soon as possible for inspection which highlights the severity of the risk posed by these rear door locks.
Source: Japan Road Transport Bureau
This news comes after Toyota did a mass recall and a stop of sale for its bZ4x electric SUV in many markets including China because of the risk of the wheels falling off. It was rectified in October last year after which Toyota resumed sales of bZ4X.
Toyota was not the only brand with affected vehicles. Subaru also had similar issues on its Solterra SUV which is also based on Toyota’s e-TNGA EV platform.
The bZ3 sedan with the current recall also shares the same platform but has BYD’s battery and motor powertrain setup. It comes in three variants with a starting price of under $A40,000 for an all-electric sedan.
Image: FAW Toyota
For this price, its offered in two battery packs which include a smaller 49.9 kWh and a larger 65.3 kWh pack.
The smaller battery can deliver up to 517 km of range on a single charge as per the CLTC test cycle. This can be extended up to 616 km with the larger 65.3 kWh battery.
These batteries power the bZ3’s rear-mounted single motors which come in two power output options.
Starting with the lower-powered 135 kW version along with a higher output 180 kW variant. Both motor configurations offer a peak torque figure of 303 Nm, making the bZ3 quite a zippy sedan.
It’s also unlikely that the bZ3 will make it to Australia given the more global bZ4x is still not yet confirmed for the local market.
Keyword: Toyota recalls 12,205 EVs because doors could open while driving