Toyota Motor Sales is recalling about 160,000 Tacoma vehicles in 20 cold climate US states and District of Columbia, Canada to inspect the spare tire carrier assembly.
The recall covers 150,000 vehicles in the US and 10,000 in Canada manufactured from the model years 2001 to 2004.
The 20 US states in the recall include Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
The automaker said that it will replace the spare tire assembly if necessary.
In Tacoma vehicles, the spare tire is stored below the rear bed and suspended by a spare tire carrier on a metal lift plate.
The company said that during manufacture, the spare tire carrier lift plate may not have been sufficiently coated with phosphate.
According to the company, the lack of phosphate coating combined with prolonged exposure to high road salt use and other environmental factors may contribute to the development of more than normal corrosion of the lift plate on some vehicles.
