Toyota sets US recall of 8000 Tacoma pickups

Toyota's decision to recall the 2010 model year Tacoma pickup trucks in the United States, which it announced on Friday, was the latest in a series of recalls that have hurt the automaker's sales and its reputation for quality.

The Toyota recall followed supplier Dana Holding Corp's (DAN.N) report to U.S. safety regulators that 34,000 drive shaft components it supplied to Toyota, Ford and Nissan could have cracks.

Dana said it was investigating the cause of the problem and remedies would be specific to each vehicle on which the parts are used. It believed less than 2 percent of the parts shipped to the automakers had cracks.

About 17,000 of the parts were supplied to Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner car-based SUVs and a review found no potential impact on the vehicles, Ford spokesman Said Deep said.

(...) Toyota said in a document obtained by Reuters that the all-wheel drive version of the 2010 Tacoma trucks may have a component containing cracks in the joint portion of the drive shaft due to an "improper manufacturing process control."

The cracks eventually could cause the drive shaft to separate and strike the road surface, potentially causing drivers to lose control of the vehicle, the document showed.

Toyota said in the document the pickups were built from mid-December to early February. It told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of its planned recall on Thursday and was not aware of any accidents caused by the defect.