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Recall could affect local Toyota owners

Toyota recall

Toyota owners could be receiving a notification in the coming weeks about a recall that could keep their cars from catching fire.

The auto manufacturer is recalling almost 7.5 million vehicles worldwide for faulty switches on power windows. The recall, which is the largest in Toyota's history, will affect about 2.5 million cars in the United States, alone.

Gatorland Toyota service manager Rob Hurlbert said the recall is to check vehicles and determine if the factory applied enough grease to the window switch in order to prevent it from overheating. He added that Toyota owners may be putting themselves in danger if they attempt to fix the problem on their own.

Hurlbert explained that a coating of grease is applied to the inside of each switch before it leaves the factory. If there isn't enough grease in the switch, it is susceptible to more ware, which he said could be potentially hazardous.

"That's exacerbated if a customer feels that, they might put some other kind of lubricant in there, which certainly can be an issue," Hurlbert said.

Toyota will inspect and correct the switches on vehicles affected by the recall free of charge. Hurlbert said correcting the problem is a relatively easy fix.

Owners whose vehicles are affected by the recall will be notified by mail beginning later this month. Hurlbert said Toyota will notify owners in waves so that local dealerships and service centers aren't overwhelmed by the amount of cars needing repairs.

"I expect a couple thousand of our customers to be affected," he said.

"The repair is only about an hour long, so we don't expect it to be too much of an inconvenience, and we certainly want to do everything we can to minimize that inconvenience for our customers."

Toyota owners can check the full listing of vehicles affected by the recall at Toyota's website to see if their car will need to be serviced.

George Pappas edited this story online.

Adam is a reporter for WUFT News. Reach him by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.