Toyota to fix accelerators in huge US recall

[rickaren]

Toyota to fix accelerators in huge US recall

Posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 12:26 PM EST. (Employee News)

Toyota Motor Corp. will soon offer to fix the accelerator pedals of up to 4 million vehicles in the United States that are subject to the company’s largest ever safety recall, Kyodo News reported on Saturday, Reuters said.

Toyota is believed to have agreed with U.S. authorities to voluntarily repair the accelerator pedals, Kyodo said, citing sources familiar with the matter, the news service said. It was unclear what the fix would involve, Reuters said.

Toyota spokesman Hideaki Honma denied that the company had reached an agreement with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on the matter, and said the talks were proceeding, the story said. NHTSA officials in Washington said on Saturday that discussions with Toyota continue “as to what the remedy will entail” and that the accelerator pedal is “among the subjects under consideration,” the article said. (Reuters)

[jasica.walters21]

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[rickaren]

Toyota May Shorten Gas Pedals to Fix Floor Mat Problem

Posted: Nov. 19, 2009 10:11 a.m.

Over four million Toyota vehicles have been recalled or had their floor mats removed due to reports of some vehicles exhibiting unintended acceleration. Toyota says the problem is due to improperly installed floor mats, though now they may have come up with another solution.

Inside Line reports, "Toyota is reportedly on the brink of deciding to make accelerator pedals shorter in millions of vehicles, as a fix to a problem with floor mat sticking that has led to a 4-million-vehicle recall."

Autoblog says, "The alleged fix would be performed by Toyota dealership employees at no charge to the customer. The report doesn't mention whether the floor mats would be secured in addition to the pedal shortening, but we're assuming Toyota and Lexus dealers will kill two birds with one stone. Swapping out four million accelerator pedals will probably be a pricey endeavor, but Toyota claims it has saved up $5.6 billion over the years in its recall kitty for just such a rainy day."

Still, nothing official has been decided, and Toyota is still working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to decide on a final fix. If you own one of the affected vehicles, which include the 2007 to 2010 Camry, Tundra and Lexus ES 350; the 2005 to 2010 Avalon and Tacoma; the 2004 to 2009 Prius; and the 2006 to 2010 Lexus IS 250, you can take your car to a dealer to have its floor mats secured, or remove the driver's side floor mat altogether while a final fix is decided on.

LINK: Toyota May Shorten Gas Pedals to Fix Floor Mat Problem - U.S. News Rankings and Reviews