The FINANCIAL — Toyota Motor Corp. said it plans on Monday to explain what it will do to fix the vehicles being recalled as the Japanese auto maker struggles to reassure anxious owners.
Toyota has recalled 4.2 million cars and trucks in North America, Europe and China to fix accelerator pedals that can get stuck or are slow to return when released, increasing the risk of a crash, AP reports. The recalls do not involve Toyota models made and sold in Japan.
Jim Lentz, the executive in charge of Toyota's U.S. sales arm, is scheduled to appear on NBC's "Today Show" Monday morning, a Toyota spokesman confirmed, according to The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Lentz is expected to lay out a timetable for shipping repair parts to dealers, as well as for resuming sales of the eight models whose sales were suspended last week and for restarting production and shipment of new vehicles that are free of the gas-pedal problems, according to people briefed on the plans.
The same source reports that Toyota declined to comment on the plans, but confirmed it would make an announcement Monday. The media appearances will be the first by a top executive to address the matter and comes after Toyota received clearance from federal regulators for a repair to 2.3 million vehicles that were recalled over concerns that a sticky gas pedal could endanger the cars' passengers. Apart from a brief apology by Toyota Chief Executive Akio Toyoda, who was caught by a Japanese television crew at the World Economic Forum, the company's senior leadership in Japan and the U.S. has been silent.
The moves to repair Toyota's once-stellar reputation came as federal officials said Sunday that they had opened an investigation into an Indiana manufacturer that sold accelerators to Toyota and other automakers, according to Los Angeles Times. Automotive industry analysts and public relations professionals said Toyota's approach to communicating what it will do about the potentially deadly glitch in some of its vehicles is crucial to its future as the world's largest auto manufacturer.
"What they absolutely have to do is convince people that they are working on this and are going to do the right thing for cars on the road, at dealerships and in production," said George Peterson, an analyst at AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin, the same source reports.
Toyota took out full-page ads Sunday in 20 major newspapers in the U.S., saying production was being put on "pause," to put customers first. It does not give details of the planned fix, according to AP. Toyota said last week it will halt production of the eight models covered by the recall, starting Monday, until they can be repaired, and has suspended their sales.
Toyota has not said exactly when production will resume. It has said that so far the suspension was planned for a week, the same source reports. Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, says the problem in the gas pedals is rare and is caused by condensation that builds up in the gas pedal assembly. Several dealers have said the fix involves slipping a shim into an area where springs push the gas pedal back to its resting position after a driver has eased off the gas. Dealers have been eager to fix the cars ever since the recall was announced on Jan. 21.
The recall came as the company tries to resolve consumer concerns of sudden acceleration in Toyota's vehicles, according to The Wall Street Journal. In a recall late last year involving 5.4 million vehicles, Toyota said entrapment of the gas pedal by floor mats was the cause of unwanted acceleration that in some cases has been fatal.
The recall in the U.S. covers 2.3 million vehicles and involves the 2009-10 RAV4 crossover, the 2009-10 Corolla, the 2009-10 Matrix hatchback, the 2005-10 Avalon, the 2007-10 Camry, the 2010 Highlander crossover, the 2007-10 Tundra pickup and the 2008-10 Sequoia SUV, AP reports. The faulty gas pedals were made by CTS Corp. of Elkhart, Indiana. Toyota said last week it has begun shipping new gas pedals systems to American dealers.
Discussion about this post