tex2670

They still have jobs (for now I guess). At least they don't work for Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, or any of the 1000s of GM or Chrysler dealers that had the rugs pulled out from under them.

spwolf

lets hope they will do that in the future when american brands have safety issues and not just foreign ones... i applaud that move.

IS-SV

I'm expecting a reasonably quick resolution that will unfreeze sales.

SecPole14

I'm not. At least not for a couple weeks.

Toyota has gone from being the triple-platinum model of efficiency and quality to a lumbering, geriatric cruise ship that can barely get out of its own way.

Programs like the AE86 aside, these are THE saddest, darkest days for Toyota fans ever.

silversprucesc3

Go Hyundai and Honda!! lol

The G Man

Isn’t replacing millions of these gas pedal a form of admission of guilt by Toyota, it is in the eyes of the customers I am sure. I have a few family members who owns Toyotas and they are nervous to say the least. They have ask me to keep them inform of the situation and I have gone thru Toyota's check list of what to do if sudden acceleration occurs. You will be surprise how many people don’t know the proper thing to do when sudden acceleration happens.
I guess the drivers who claim they have experience stuck gas pedal have multiply in recent weeks, but I guess that is to be expected. It will be interesting to see the Toyota sales report for March 2010, no doubt it will be a negative number.

flipside909

Toyota plants ready to receive replacements for faulty pedals
Hans Greimel
and Kathy Jackson
Automotive News -- January 27, 2010 - 12:01 am ET
UPDATED: 1/27/10 9:53 a.m. ET


Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...#ixzz0dqEJUwc9

TOKYO -– Toyota Motor Corp.'s North American assembly plants are preparing to receive redesigned replacements for the faulty accelerator pedal mechanisms that led the automaker to suspend sales of eight models.

The sales halt will be followed by a production shutdown next week at five North American plants, Toyota said late Tuesday. The factories produce the cars and trucks that were among the 2.3 million Toyota recalled last week to fix accelerator pedals that are prone to stick.

Some Toyota plants may have already received the replacement part, but others will have to wait until production of the new mechanism ramps up, a person familiar with the matter said.

The source didn't offer details of the timeline. Blueprints for the redesigned mechanism were finished earlier this week by engineers at Toyota r&d and the U.S. supplier, CTS Corp., the person said.

“The countermeasure pedal is now available from the supplier,” the source said. “We are now in the transition period. It's just a matter of time in getting the parts to the plants.”

Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi confirmed that the supplier has already developed a replacement mechanism for the pedals. She said it was unclear to what extent they have already been shipped to assembly plants.Two of the factories are in Indiana, with one each in Texas, Kentucky and Canada.

The fix comes as the world's largest automaker struggles to rein in a widening crisis involving complaints about unintended acceleration cases, several that involved fatal crashes.

The faulty accelerators were made in Canada by CTS, which is headquartered in Elkhart, Ind. A person answering the phone after hours Tuesday declined to comment on the situation.

Last week's recall covers 2005-10 Avalons, 2007-10 Camrys and Tundras; 2008-10 Sequoias; 2009-10 Corollas, RAV4s and Matrixes; and 2010 Highlanders.

The shutdown

Takeuchi said next week's production shutdown is aimed at averting an inventory backup. It was unclear when output will resume. Production of the recalled vehicles will be initially halted from Feb. 1 through Feb. 5.

Following the Jan. 21 recall announcement, a limited number of vehicles continued to be made with the problematic pedal mechanism, Takeuchi said. It is unclear how many, but those vehicles were not shipped, she said.

Last week's recall followed a 4.2 million-vehicle recall last fall aimed at fixing floor mats that could jam the accelerator, causing unintended acceleration.

Bigger headaches still loom for Toyota.

Although the company has developed a replacement pedal mechanism so it can continue production of 2010 model year vehicles, fixing vehicles already in the field is more complicated.

Swapping old pedals for new ones would require volume of some 2 million pedals.

“We have to produce more than 2 million pedals,” the source said. “That takes a long time. That's more than we can produce in a year.”

Meanwhile, Toyota may expand the recall to Europe and China.


Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...#ixzz0dqE1877b

joe80

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/27/r...-recalled-mod/

Report: Toyota was legally required to stop selling recalled models

Toyota has quite the PR nightmare on its hands. The boiling cauldron of complaints surrounding unintended acceleration issues bubbled over this month with two separate but giant recalls. The latest involves eight Toyota models that contain defective accelerator pedal mechanisms that could stick over time due to wear.

There is no fix available for the pedal mechanisms yet and dealers have continued to sell new models affected by the recall, so Toyota announced yesterday that it's suspending the sale and production of these eight models for the week of February 1. It was a bold move that made headlines, as Toyota stands to lose a lot of money. On the other hand, the Japanese automaker got some pats on the back for doing the right thing.

Turns out, the decision to stop producing these vehicles wasn't made by Toyota alone. The Detroit News reports that Toyota is required by law to stop selling the vehicles since there is no fix available yet. David Strickland, the new administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said that Toyota consulted with his agency, which informed the automaker of its obligations and it complied. That still doesn't answer why these recalled vehicles were being sold five days after the recall was announced.

Nevertheless, Toyota spokesman Mike Michels is reported saying that the company's decision to stop selling the recalled vehicles was voluntary, but that they also had a legal requirement to do so. How do you voluntary do something that you're obligated to do?
Report: Toyota was legally required to stop selling recalled models
In related news, General Motors has confirmed to Autoblog's sister site, AOL Autos, that it is putting a hold on all remaining Pontiac Vibe sales, as the model is under recall for the same throttle issue that afflicts its mechanical twin, the Toyota Matrix. Fortunately for GM, there are apparently only six Vibe units left in stock nationwide as the brand's shutdown continues.

encore888

The ES 350 problem in that accident was the floor mat, contributed to by the pedal design:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...h-had-earlier/

This sheriff's report (released in that link) is very detailed and graphic, it found that:

1. An earlier driver of the crash ES 350 had the same unintended acceleration, switched to N and shifted the floor mat. The car drove normally afterwards.

2. The sheriff investigators tested the same floor mat in another ES 350 and found that the pedal gets easily stuck.

What happened after is, with all the media attention, all Toyota and Lexus products were scrutinized. Now they have found a defective CTS pedal on N. American Toyota models. This does not apply to the ES or RX, IIRC because they use Denso pedals.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

FS: 2002 Toyota Rav4L fully loaded 40k on the clock, no accidents, always stored under a car cover.. $18,500..

flipside909

Haha funny. But you have an 02 not a 09-10 which is being recalled.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

Thats right.. It is time to cash in as people are desperate for the good Toyotas made in Japan

joe80

TOYOTA = TIGER WOODS


but i believe both Toyota and Tiger will be back.

I8ABMR

Toyota has quite the PR nightmare on its hands. The boiling cauldron of complaints surrounding unintended acceleration issues bubbled over this month with two separate but giant recalls. The latest involves eight Toyota models that contain defective accelerator pedal mechanisms that could stick over time due to wear.

There is no fix available for the pedal mechanisms yet and dealers have continued to sell new models affected by the recall, so Toyota announced yesterday that it's suspending the sale and production of these eight models for the week of February 1. It was a bold move that made headlines, as Toyota stands to lose a lot of money. On the other hand, the Japanese automaker got some pats on the back for doing the right thing.

Turns out, the decision to stop producing these vehicles wasn't made by Toyota alone. The Detroit News reports that Toyota is required by law to stop selling the vehicles since there is no fix available yet. David Strickland, the new administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said that Toyota consulted with his agency, which informed the automaker of its obligations and it complied. That still doesn't answer why these recalled vehicles were being sold five days after the recall was announced.

Nevertheless, Toyota spokesman Mike Michels is reported saying that the company's decision to stop selling the recalled vehicles was voluntary, but that they also had a legal requirement to do so. How do you voluntary do something that you're obligated to do?

In related news, General Motors has confirmed to Autoblog's sister site, AOL Autos, that it is putting a hold on all remaining Pontiac Vibe sales, as the model is under recall for the same throttle issue that afflicts its mechanical twin, the Toyota Matrix. Fortunately for GM, there are apparently only six Vibe units left in stock nationwide as the brand's shutdown continues.


News was released after this post was released on autoblog stating that the pedals for the recall are in . Toyota should be ok to fix the new cars being sold. This should help the sales to get flowing again

bigbwb

World News on ABC just blasted Toyota a bit. They stopped into a NY dealer and were told to leave...unpleasantly. They also went into another dealer with a hidden cam and the salemen told the person none of the showroom models were affected from the recall(even though they were).....ouch!

I love Toyotas and have owned many(Just bought my 4th 4runner, a 2010 TE this week and my wife drives a Lexus IS350). I truly hope they learn from their mistakes, come out of this successful, and put much more focus on quality & reliability rather than sheer numbers of sales.

I am glad I have always bought models made in Japan