Turns out Toyota Auto Body celebrated too early back in January. The company has had to recall its one-seat COMS electric microcar a second time — the winter campaign didn’t cover every way the parking brake could fail. A new notice, filed July 15 under number 5848, now applies to units built between July 4, 2012 and April 8, 2025.
The first defect involves a pawl inside the brake lever that wasn’t hardened enough during manufacturing. A hard impact can chip its edge, and continued use wears it down until the lever no longer holds in the raised position. Three complaints were logged over this issue.
The second problem turned out to be far more common — 29 cases — and it’s the real reason Toyota Auto Body had to rewrite the whole campaign. Poor welding can let the cable guide bracket separate. With repeated use, the cable slips into the mechanism, lever travel increases, and the parking brake gradually loses its grip. The manufacturer knows of 32 failures in total. No crashes yet — but “yet” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
Worst case, a parked COMS could start rolling on its own. So the new repair goes further than January’s: every vehicle gets a new parking brake lever, cable, and bracket. Any cable fitted with an extra spacer will have it removed. The procedure also counts as completing the earlier campaign, number 5762 — so no owner pays twice for the same part.
What stands out here is the sheer length of the window covered. The recall spans COMS units built over almost 13 years — essentially the entire production run of this microcar generation. The chassis number range is wider than the actual number of affected cars, though, so owners need to check by VIN rather than model year alone.
The immediate consequence: some owners who already visited a dealer for the January recall will be called back in. They now need to confirm the new procedure was done — replacing all three components — not just the original repair.
The recall is filed with Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) under number 5848 and covers the single ZAD-TAK30 model — a Japan-market-only microcar. Once repaired, a sticker marked 5848 is applied near the driver’s seatbelt anchor, confirming the expanded procedure was completed rather than just the January fix. Toyota Auto Body hasn’t announced owner-letter mailing dates yet, saying notices will go out as parts and materials become available. Owners can contact the company’s quality assurance department toll-free at 0120-100-804 (9:00–12:00 and 13:00–17:00, closed weekends).
