Toyota Owners to Receive Letters to Confirm Recall and Get Appointments to Fix Gas Pedals

(LOS ANGELES, Feb. 2, 2010) – Toyota Motor Corp. has announced that certified letters will be mailed to Toyota owners this week to inform them about accelerator pedal repairs on certain recalled models.

 

The recall affects 8 million Toyotas in the U.S. The second-largest car manufacturer in the nation said that owners should wait until they receive their certified letter and confirm their vehicle is on the recall list, before they call to make an appointment for repair and installation of steel reinforcement bars in the gas pedal assemblies that allegedly have been sticking on some cars.

 

Since so many vehicles in the U.S. are affected, letters are being mailed on a rolling basis, and it will take weeks to receive a certified letter, according to Toyota. 

 

Once they receive a letter from Toyota and their car is confirmed on the recall list, they can call their local dealership to make an appointment to avoid inconvenient and lengthy wait times.  Owners should not call Toyota’s toll-free customer service phone number since appointments are not taken on that line.

 

Toyota also said that its dealerships expect to be open 24 hours a day/seven days a week as long as they have enough parts in stock to repair the vehicles that fall under Toyota’s second recall since autumn and that dealership mechanics were being trained on repair procedures.

 

In addition to the recall, Toyota stopped production of the eight models involved and major U.S. rental companies have removed Toyota vehicles from their fleets.  Production is expected to resume on Monday, Feb. 8, according to the car manufacturer.  Those vehicles will have the steel reinforcement bars installed as they are assembled at Toyota factories.

 

Toyota’s USA news web site described the repair as follows:  “A precision-cut steel reinforcement bar will be installed into the assembly that will reduce the surface tension between the friction shoe and the adjoining surface.  With this reinforcement in place, the excess friction that can cause the pedal to stick is eliminated.  The company has confirmed the effectiveness of the newly reinforced pedals through rigorous testing on pedal assemblies that had previously shown a tendency to stick. 

 

“Separately from the recall for sticking accelerator pedals, Toyota is in the process of recalling vehicles to address rare instances in which floor mats have trapped the accelerator pedal in certain Toyota and Lexus models (announced Nov. 25, 2009), and is already notifying customers about how it will fix this issue.  In the case of vehicles covered by both recalls, it is Toyota’s intention to remedy both at the same time.”

 

Representatives from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are said to be satisfied with the repair design.  

 

According to NHTSA, the Toyota, Lexus, and Pontiacs affected by the pedal entrapment recall are:

 

According to NHTSA, the Toyota and Pontiacs affected by the sticky pedal recall are:

 

The Auto Club reminds motorists that no Scion vehicles were affected by Toyota’s recall actions.  Also not affected by the recalls were, Sienna, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser and select Camry models, including Camry hybrids, which remain for sale.