Toyota recalls Camry, Venza for stop lamp switch risks

Toyota Motor Co has announced a voluntary recall of select Camry and Venza models over a concern that the stop lamp switch could fail – possibly causing the vehicle not start, not allowing the driver to shift out of park or causing the brake lights not to work.

This recall specifically affects 2009 Toyota Camry models and Toyota Venza models from the 2009, 2010 and 2011 model years; with 186,500 vehicles included in total with 70,500 of those being Camry sedans and the rest, Venza crossovers. The statement does not specify which plant, but Toyota mentions that all of these vehicles were built on one of the North American assembly lines. The Venza and Camry are both built at Toyota’s Georgetown Kentucky Assembly plant so we can presume that all of these vehicles were built at that plant.

The component at fault for the new Toyota Camry and Venza recall is the stop lamp switch which not only causes the brake lights to illuminate, but also allows the vehicle to start and be shifted out of park. During production, Toyota believes that some silicon grease may have gotten inside the stop lamp switch which can cause increased resistance over time. That increased resistance can prevent the signal from being sent that allows the vehicle to start and be shifted out of park, along with lighting up the brake lights so depending on when the resistance issue occurs; the vehicle could fail to start and strand a driver, it could get stuck somewhere running in park without the ability to shift or it could start and run just fine…just without brake lights.

It should be pointed out that with this Toyota Camry and Venza recall, the stop lamp switch has no control over the braking system so even in the absolute worst case scenario with this recall risk, the brakes will still as intended. However, with the risk of the vehicles stranding people or failing to notify other drivers that the Camry or Venza in front of them is slowing down or stopping – the company is getting them back to dealerships for repairs.

Toyota is reportedly in the process of acquiring the parts to fix the 186,500 Toyota Camry and Toyota Venza models. When they have a sufficient supply of replacement parts, Toyota will officially start the recall by contacting the owners of these models via first class mail, asking the owners to return to their neighborhood Toyota dealership. The stop lamp switch will be repaired free of charge and owners can expect the repairs to take about 30 minutes (but don’t hold us to that – we all know how dealerships can be on a case by case basis).