After announcing two separate recalls related to sticking accelerator pedals, stopping both production and sales of affected models and enduring a protracted skewering by the mass media, Toyota Canada has announced a fix and undertaken a media campaign to help restore its tarnished image.
The company announced on February 1 that it would provide dealers with a “precision-cut steel reinforcement bar,” along with training on how to install it, to correct the sticking accelerator pedal issue that was the subject of the second recall, announced January 21.
That recall affected approximately 270,000 vehicles in Canada, including the following models:
- Certain 2009-2010 RAV4
- 2009-2010 Corolla
- 2009-2010 Matrix
- 2005-2010 Avalon
- 2007-2010 Camry
- 2010 Highlander
- 2007-2010 Tundra
- 2008-2010 Sequoia
On January 26, the company announced that it would immediately halt sales of those vehicles by dealers and also shut down their production, effective February 1. That decision affected Toyota’s Canadian plants in Cambridge and Woodstock, ON, which build Corollas and Matrixes and RAV4s respectively. With fixes now in place, both for production and in-service vehicles, production is expected to resume on February 11.
Service parts to fix the problem are expected to be in dealers’ hands by Friday, February 5 and some Toyota dealers are expected to work extended hours to implement the fix for customers.
According to Stephen Beatty, managing director at Toyota Canada, any vehicles with reported sticking problems will be given priority. All affected owners will be notified by mail of the problem and the fix, with owners of the oldest vehicles notified first. Toyota says the problem results from a combination of wear and environmental conditions, which is why older vehicles are being given priority.
According to Toyota, accelerator pedals in recalled vehicles might, on rare occasions, stick in a partially open position. The company says “the issue involves a friction device or lever, in conjunction with a spring in the accelerator pedal assembly, that is designed to help control the force necessary to depress the pedal and the return force necessary to release the pedal to allow for smooth operation of the accelerator pedal. Due to the materials used, wear and environmental conditions, surfaces may, over time, begin to stick and release instead of operating smoothly. In rare instances, the friction of the accelerator pedal may increase to a point where the accelerator pedal may become harder to depress, slower to return or, in the worst case, become stuck in a partially depressed position.”
Toyota’s says its solution for current owners is “simple, effective and quick to deploy.” 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 says it has confirmed the effectiveness of the newly-modified pedals that had previously shown a tendency to stick.
This recall is unrelated to an earlier recall to address issues of floor-mats entrapping the accelerator pedal, although some (not all) of the same vehicles are involved.
Since the announcement of the second recall, the mass media has been unrelenting in its scrutiny and criticism of Toyota, questioning everything from when the company first knew there was a problem to whether there still may be an undiscovered electronic glitch in the vehicles’ drive-by-wire throttle system.
With the announcement of the fix, Toyota personnel became prominently available to the media to explain the problem and the fix and help restore the company’s image. Long known for its outstanding quality, the media have seemingly taken great delight in chronicling Toyota’s fallability.
What the long term effect of the issue will be on customer confidence and loyalty and on Toyota sales remains to be seen.
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