Lalo

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100127/..._toyota_recall

WASHINGTON – Toyota Motor Co. said Tuesday it was suspending U.S. sales of eight recalled models to fix accelerator pedals that stick, the latest quality problem to confront the world's No. 1 automaker.
The "stop sale" involves a significant portion of Toyota's fleet and some of its most popular vehicles, including the Camry and Corolla. As part of the plan, Toyota is halting production at five manufacturing facilities for the week of Feb. 1 "to assess and coordinate activities." There are 2.3 million vehicles involved in the recall, which was announced last week.
"This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized," said Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice president and general manager.
The Japanese automaker said the sales suspension includes the 2009-2010 RAV4, the 2009-2010 Corolla, the 2007-2010 Camry, the 2009-2010 Matrix, the 2005-2010 Avalon, the 2010 Highlander, the 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia.
Aaron Bragman, an auto analyst for the consulting firm IHS Global Insight in Troy, Mich., said Toyota typically sells about 65,000 Camrys and Corollas per month, and the suspension of sales could strike the company's bottom line and reputation for quality.
"That's huge if they can't sell these and they don't have a fix identified. They need to go and get a solution to this fast," Bragman said.
Toyota sold more than 34,000 Camrys in December, making the midsize sedan America's best-selling car, with 3.4 percent of the market. Sales rose 38 percent from a year earlier. Sales of the Corolla and Matrix, a small sedan and a hatchback, totaled 34,220 last month, with 3.3 percent of the market and sales up nearly 55 percent from December of 2008.
It was unclear how long Toyota would suspend production of the vehicles. In an e-mail to employees, company officials said, "we don't know yet how long this pause will last but we will make every effort to resume production soon." Toyota officials did not immediately return phone messages.
Toyota said the company would stop producing vehicles at plants in Indiana, Kentucky, Texas and Canada. They said no other North American Toyota facility would be affected by the decision.
The auto company said the sales suspension would not affect Lexus or Scion vehicles. Toyota said the Prius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser and select Camry models, including all Camry hybrids, would remain for sale.
Toyota said last week it was recalling 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix accelerator pedals with mechanical problems that could cause them to become stuck.
That announcement followed a larger recall months earlier of 4.2 million vehicles because of problems with gas pedals becoming trapped under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration. That problem was the cause of several crashes, including some fatalities.

tacbear

How on earth does a floor mat under a gas pedal make the throttle go wide open???

What is happening is Toyota is probably having their "drive by wire" controllers made in China and they are defective! And they covered it up with this crazy lie about floormats getting UNDER the gas pedal!!

hi5.0

Oh what a feeling - it won't stop... it won't stop? it won't stop!!!!

jacostang

Its a big big story!!
http://www.foxnews.com/

Glenn

its not funny how when these pedals get stuck, most people don't think to put the car in neutral to save their own life

codeman94

Thats what she said..


at any rate.... that's REALLY gonna hurt their bottom line... I think I can actually hear the sound of more Fusions being sold.

StangMahn

^it's a wonderful sound isnt it?

Ranger

From what I heard/remember from the tv report, 2 or 3 plants in the US and one in Canada are shut down for 5 days which is the last thing we need given the economy - not to mention the safety aspects of it.

Having said that - I do know a guy who for years has given me grief about Ford quality or the lack of it and how great Toyota's are so there is payback going in that direction. I may be wrong but I don't remember a company shutting down its lines like this and I'm an Old Fart!

houtex

re: how does the mat do that?

The mat goes forward under the pedal, true... then gets wrinkled up as it continues to try to go forward, causing the stick to happen. That's why they poke holes in the mats and tie wrap them to the seats. True story.

This other, more massive recall/shutdown of sales is due to a cable lubrication issue, it appears.

David Young

Over '20' known deaths. Its a sad time for Toyota. The one that crashed into the lake even had their floor mats in the trunk like Toyota had told them to do. I don't think its the floor mats causing this......

UnrealFord

Its becoming a big story, but not as big as the one they made of the Ford Explorer.. there was 101 deaths recorded on rollovers, and many of those were partial fault to Firestone and Fords recommended air recommendation, along with people driving irresponsible and not controlling there SUV when it left the road. .
But this recall is totally Toyota's issue, I wont be happy till they ruin Toyota's name like the Press did to Ford.

Knight

Its ridiculous that the general public is dumb enough to not know to either put it in neutral or turn the key off.

cdynaco

Those Americans...

"The problem part comes from one U.S. supplier and does not affect models that use parts from different suppliers, Takeuchi said. Toyota's Japan plants are not affected."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583998,00.html

MadGT

Glad dont have to worry about that one...

2010MustangGT

I was watching CNN and it has nothing to do with the floor mats- total separate issue. It has to do with a component that gets jammed in the accelerator compartment. And it wont release when you lay off.

Pretty Scary.

For such a "reputable" automaker this past year they've had horrible public relations. And are giving themselves a bad image.

But there is an easy fix to this issue... Buy Ford.

Zastava_101

It was just a matter of time until quantity becomes more important that qualify.

You didn't hear of the issue they're having with airbags on 2004-2006 F-150s?

I'm almost afraid to drive mine.

mustangGT90210

Honestly, while putting it in neutral or turning it off seems to come as first instinct from behind your computer, I doubt it would if you found yourself in the situation. I know my first inclination wouldn't be to turn off the car, but for the sake of not trying to start a fight, I digress

Lalo

you're right. most people would freak the f out.

HOSS429

i have an 09 corolla 5 speed and i absolutely hate it .. the accelerator is about a second ahead of the engine in response time .. `im constantly stalling the engine when i let off the clutch and the motor has`nt revved yet and it dies ..it also over-revs in between shifts cause the engine stays up ..

hi5.0

Not to worry, it'll all be smoothed over and American consumers will quickly forget about it. "Funny" how it is blamed on a US part supplier. Are there any significant differences between the JDM(?) assemblies since they were all supposedly made to Toyota's specifications and initially passed. IIRC, the origin of the problem may be more of a electronic issue (drive-by-wire tuning) vs. a mechanical fault. May have been happening much longer than Toyota is letting on.