New York – Does Toyota’s Problem Go Beyond Pedals?

    18

    New York – Toyota is gearing up for the mother of all repair jobs. The company said Monday that parts to fix its dangerous faulty gas pedal problem are on the way to dealers.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Toyota has recalled more than 5.5 million vehicles in this country. And as CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds reports, the fix outlined today only covers 2.3 million of them.

    Toyota says it should take trained mechanics no more than 30 minutes to fix its sticky gas pedal, but repairing its reputation could take a while longer.

    An attempt to shift its image out of reverse took place today with a multi-media mea culpa.

    “I am very sorry that this has taken place,” Jim Lentz, the head of Toyota in the U.S. said. “I know that we have let you down.”

    Toyota’s engineers said a friction device in the pedal assembly which is supposed to give drivers the right feel when stepping on the gas can wear down and – in rare cases – catch and keep the accelerator open.

    Now a steel reinforcement bar called a shim will be inserted to eliminate that excess friction. According to Toyota, the pedal should feel the same to drivers.

    “This has been tested and it is a long term fix,” Letnz said.

    Service bulletins will reach Toyota dealerships Tuesday or Wednesday and repairs could start soon thereafter – though servicing all of the recalled vehicles could take months.

    “We’re already taking appointments,” said Brian Weinberg, general manager of Grossinger Toyota in Chicago.


    Weinberg has hired 20 additional mechanics for the rush repairs. “We’re gonna pretty much double our staff and extend our service hours so that we can do 300-500 repairs per day,” he said.

    But some industry analysts and safety advocates say the problem is bigger than a pedal. They note that the federal government has done eight investigations of sudden, unexplained acceleration in Toyotas over the last seven years and none identified a stuck gas pedal as a potential cause.

    They point to Toyota’s onboard electronics – the sensors and microprocessors that control the car’s throttle – which they say could be sending the wrong and potentially lethal signals.

    “It is a multi-faceted problem that has multiple root causes, which is why we anticipate that this problem is going to continue even after these accelerator pedals have been replaced,” said Sean Kane of the company Safety Research and Strategies.

    But Lentz says the critics are wrong. In his words, the company is “very, very confident that it is not an electronics issue.”


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    18 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    professor
    professor
    14 years ago

    If Toyota is wrong about this fix, They can potentially be sued out of business.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    As I said before, Toyota deserves all of this since Japan never played fairly by limiting access to American companies to the Jpanese markets. They were protectionists from day one while we let them take over our market for over 50 years now. Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    It is basicaly outta business as it is, do you know any one who plans on buying a Toyota in the near future? I don’t think so!

    oiberchuchem
    oiberchuchem
    14 years ago

    Interesting to note that I checked insurance rates with geico a month ago-before all this started and it cost $300 more a year to insure a toyota sienna then a honda odyssey

    with hashem's help
    with hashem's help
    14 years ago

    To #3 I drive one and I’m very happy, highly recommended.

    personally I like Honda
    personally I like Honda
    14 years ago

    Toyota is a good company and for years has been building decent cars. American cars continue to be built worse and worse and less and less are built in the USA. Toyota and Honda operate factories in America, while American companies ship all their factory jobs to Mexico and Canada. I am loyal to Honda, but if I drove Toyotas I would forgive their first real error in over 60 years of auto building and well over 30 years on the American market. Don’t forget folks the American auto industry has lost touch with people decades ago and that is how the Japanese (and nowadays the Koreans) were able to grasp the American auto market. Its very simple supply and demand. America.builds lousy cars and executives worry more about keeping their own pockets fat than building better cars and trying to recapture the American market.

    Sam
    Sam
    14 years ago

    Come on people, Toyota has been the standart bearer of car quality for decades now a glitch can always happen, how many such things happened by ALL other carmakers without a callback!! They at least care about quality.
    I will for sure stay a toyota or any jap driver, no comparison to ANY others!!!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I’m positive that all the bloggers that say the people will stop buying toyotas dont drive one. Anyone that drives one will forgive and continue to do so. Is anyone stupid enough to believe that this could not have happened to any of the idiotic american auto makers?! Personally I think the whole thing is a scam by obama to boost sales of his auto companies. Maybe there was an issue but is was definately blown out of proportion bc of alterier motives.

    Raphael Kaufman
    Raphael Kaufman
    14 years ago

    The perception that Toyota cars are better made or superior to American brands is just that – a perception, carefully promoted by Toyota. It may have had some basis in fact back in the late ’70s and early ’80s when Toyotas were built in Japan and American cars had truly dismal QC. Today, neither of those two conditions apply . Nowadays, Toyotas are built in the US (even for sale in Japan) and American brand cars have equally good QC and are just as reliable and well made as Japanese brand cars. Yet the perception of superiority presists. Case in Point: The Toyota Matrix outsells the Pontiac Vibe by about 10 to 1, yet they are the exact same car, built on the same production line with the same components by the same workers. Toyota’s present difficulty, really a rather minor problem, wouldn’t be quite so catastrophic if it had built it’s marketing strategy on how much fun Toyotas are to drive instead of how reliable they are. ( They’re not, particularly but, hey, neither are they any more reliable than any other car)

    LIBERALISM IS A DISEASE!!!
    LIBERALISM IS A DISEASE!!!
    14 years ago

    The comments coming out of the government sound like a bunch of sour grapes. They are trying to twist this into something showing how bad Toyota is when the truth is they have no other way to prop up Government Motor Corp.

    car buff
    car buff
    14 years ago

    The fact is , that in japan u cant buy a ford in a ford dealership because threr is none ,if u want one u have to buy it in a domestic shop. so im happy that happend to them, and lets hope the americans will have the onions to capetelize on it.

    Car maven
    Car maven
    14 years ago

    I owned a 20 year old Chevy van that never had a single mechanical failure in it’s lifetime before I sold it. I now own a 10 year old Chevy SUV with nearly 200,000 miles that still runs strong. Anyone who claims Chevy cannot build decent cars has their head stuck in the sand or is a Toyota fanboy who drinks the Toyota koolaid.
    Get a brain people.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I purchased a 2010 Highlander and contacted the dealer about my concerns about the recent news. They told me that I would be receiving an letter to bring it in but since my vehicle was built in Japan it would not have to have the “shim” put on the accelerator since those built there were not of concern. It seems that the “problem” really is an “American” problem for those vehicles put together here since the pedals were purchased in America.Only time and and the accuracy in media reporting will tell the true story of what is happening here. However the damage has already been done.