Toyota India has announced a recall of the Urban Cruiser sub-4m compact SUV. The manufacturer has recalled as many as 9,498 units of the Urban Cruiser because of a faulty driver-side airbag module. Toyota has not revealed the details of the exact issue that is causing the recall. The Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, on which the Urban Cruiser is based remains unaffected.
The cars affected were manufactured between July 28, 2020, and February 11, 2021, as per the details issued by Toyota. The official statement says that the manufacturer has come to find a possible issue with the driver side airbag module assembly. The company has decided to recall the vehicles for replacement of the concerned part, free of cost. Toyota did not say what possible problems customers can face with the faulty part.
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The owner of the affected vehicles will be contacted by the authorized Toyota dealerships across the country. There will be a free inspection and the airbag will be replaced by the dealership for free. Customers with affected vehicles can reach out to the nearest dealer or call the Toyota Customer Assistance Centre on 1800 425 0001.
The Urban Cruiser is basically a rebadged version of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. It is one of the best-selling cars from the Japanse manufacturer and Toyota also offers a longer warranty period on the Urban Cruiser compared to what Maruti Suzuki provides for the Vitara Brezza.
While styling is different, the mechanicals that the Toyota Urban Cruiser runs is borrowed from the Maruti Vitara Brezza without any changes. The compact SUV will offer a petrol mild-hybrid engine layout and choice of either a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed torque converter automatic gearboxes. The engine is a 1.5 liter-4 cylinder K-Series naturally aspirated unit with 104 PS of peak power and 138 Nm of peak torque. The Suzuki Hybrid Vehicle System (SHVS) mild hybrid will assist the engine during hard acceleration, improving pick up and lowering the load on the alternator. The SHVS will also offer brake energy regeneration and an idle-stop system.
While there are no differences between the Baleno and Glanza, the Vitara Brezza and the Urban Cruiser do have a lot of differences. The new Urban Cruiser gets a different grille than the Vitara Brezza. The two-slat grille looks extremely distinct and looks heavily inspired by the Toyota Fortuner. It gets dual LED headlamps just like the Vitara Brezza and the units remain the same. It also gets a set of different bumper and skid plate.
The side profile of both vehicles remains very similar. The Urban Cross gets different looking alloy wheels. The rear also almost remains the same except for the bumper, which is different in both vehicles. Just like the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, the Urban Cruiser gets an identical dashboard, steering wheel, instrument cluster, infotainment system and even seats. The only difference between the two is the colours. The Toyota offers a walnut brown cabin unlike the all-black option of the Vitara Brezza.
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