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Toyota Unveils Fix For Pedal Recall
Toyota has announced a fix for nearly 150,000 vehicles in dealer inventory and 2.3 million vehicles in customer hands that will remedy a sticking accelerator pedal, but has come up short on details as to when the fix will be exactly available, what the rate of replacement will be, and whether customers or inventory will be targeted first. The automaker's European operation has also announced the extent of a recall in its own region.
Announcing a fix is a good next step, but a lack of detail as to how customers can get vehicles fixed, when Toyota might begin selling cars again, and a media that has now seemingly turned against the company all spell difficult times ahead for the automaker.
The fallout from the Toyota unintended acceleration recall continues to grow in the United States as the automaker this morning announced that it had millions of vehicles currently on the road in customers' hands, as well as those sitting at dealer lots under a stop-sell order. That, among several other developments, comprise the beginning of what is likely to be a very difficult week for Toyota's public relations department.
According to Toyota, the piece of the complete pedal assembly with a steel countermeasure bar that will be manufactured in Japan.
The first examples of the countermeasure part should be arriving at dealers this week or next, which would allow the 1,200 American dealers to begin repairs of the nearly 150,000 vehicles in Toyota's inventory.
Officials from the U.S National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have reviewed the fix that Toyota has submitted, and have deemed it to be an acceptable solution to the company's recall issue. While the NHTSA is not required to approve the fix, it does have veto power if the regulators deem the fix to be inadequate. Thus far, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said that he has reviewed the fix with Toyota officials, and that the agency agrees with the company's approach.
Toyota's top executive, addressed the mounting calls for him to make some sort of statement regarding the increasing firestorm of controversy surrounding the global concern over the recalls. “We're extremely sorry to have made customers uneasy," said Toyoda. “We plan to establish the facts and give an explanation that will remove customers' concerns as soon as possible," he added.
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