Toyota Temporarily Suspends Sales of Selected Vehicles

[Justin Bimmer]

Toyota Temporarily Suspends Sales of Selected Vehicles

TORRANCE, Calif., January 26, 2010 - - Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., today announced that it is instructing Toyota dealers to temporarily suspend sales of eight models involved in the recall for sticking accelerator pedal, announced on January 21, 2010.

“Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company,” said Group Vice President and Toyota Division General Manager Bob Carter. “This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized. We’re making every effort to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible.”

Toyota announced it would recall approximately 2.3 million vehicles to correct sticking accelerator pedals on specific Toyota Division models. Toyota has investigated isolated reports of sticking accelerator pedal mechanisms in certain vehicles without the presence of floor mats. There is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position.

Toyota’s accelerator pedal recall and suspension of sales is confined to the following Toyota Division vehicles:

2009-2010 RAV4,

2009-2010 Corolla,

2009-2010 Matrix,

2005-2010 Avalon,

Certain 2007-2010 Camry,

2010 Highlander,

2007-2010 Tundra,

2008-2010 Sequoia

No Lexus Division or Scion vehicles are affected by these actions. Also not affected are Toyota Prius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser and select Camry models, including all Camry hybrids, which will remain for sale.

Due to the sales suspension, Toyota is expected to stop producing vehicles on the following production lines for the week of February 1 to assess and coordinate activities. The North America vehicle production facilities affected are:

• Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Canada (Corolla, Matrix, and RAV4)

• Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana (Sequoia and Highlander)

• Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky – Line 1 (Camry and Avalon)

• Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (Camry)

• Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (Tundra)

No other North American Toyota vehicle production facilities are affected by the decision to stop production.

The sticking accelerator pedal recall is separate from the on-going recall of Toyota and Lexus vehicles to reduce the risk of pedal entrapment by incorrect or out of place accessory floor mats. Approximately 1.7 million Toyota Division vehicles are subject to both separate recall actions.

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The latest news about the sticking accelerator pedal recall:

Frequently Asked Questions for the Sticking Accelerator Pedal Recall (Jan. 22, 2010)

Toyota Files Voluntary Safety Recall on Select Toyota Division Vehicles for Sticking Accelerator Pedal (Jan. 21, 2010)

The latest news about Toyota's consumer safety advisory for potential floor mat interference with the accelerator pedal in certain Toyota and Lexus vehicles:

Setting the Record Straight (Dec. 23, 2009)

A Healthy Discussion on Safety (Dec. 10, 2009)

Toyota Announces Details of Remedy to Address Potential Accelerator Pedal Entrapment (Nov. 25, 2009)

Unintended Acceleration: Toyota Addresses the Issues (Nov. 6, 2009)

Toyota's Statement Regarding NHTSA News Release (Nov. 4, 2009)

Toyota Begins Interim Notification to Owners Regarding Future Voluntary Safety Recall Related to Floor Mats (Nov. 2, 2009)

NHTSA report (Nov. 2, 2009)

Toyota owner letter (Nov. 2, 2009)

Toyota Consumer Safety Advisory: Potential Floor Mat Interference with Accelerator Pedal (Sept. 29, 2009)

Toyota/Carpeted/All-Weather Floor Mat Inspection, Application & Installation Instructions (Sept. 29, 2009)

Toyota Carpet Floor Mat Application Information Chart (Sept. 29, 2009)

Toyota All-Weather Floor Mat Quick Reference Chart (Sept. 29, 2009)

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NOTE TO CONSUMERS: We’ve received a number of comments and questions about the floor mat issue and understand the safety concerns. We want to be responsive, but the Toyota USA Newsroom is not intended as a place for consumer complaints, or detailed information about any vehicle features, specs or capabilities. These types of concerns are best handled by our Customer Experience Center where they will be routed to the appropriate customer service representative for Toyota, Scion or Lexus. You can reach our customer service representatives by calling 1-800-331-4331. Prefer to email or chat? Simply access our website email or live chat links for Toyota, Scion or Lexus.

[Intrepidation]

Fail so hard.

[FAPTurbo]

[Justin Bimmer]

I have never seen anything like this before.

[Drew Dowdell]

2009-2010 RAV4,

2009-2010 Corolla,

2009-2010 Matrix,

2005-2010 Avalon,

Certain 2007-2010 Camry,

2010 Highlander,

2007-2010 Tundra,

2008-2010 Sequoia

Isn't that about 85% of their North American volume?

[Cory Wolfe]

Ouch.

[ToniCipriani]

I'm just so tempted to go to a Toyota dealer now and say I want to buy a car.

"Oh wait, you don't have any to sell?"

[mustang84]

Hands down, biggest PR blunder / debacle since the Audi 5000.

[Chevy Nick]

I don't know whose reputation has taken a bigger nosedive: Toyota or Tiger Woods?

[FAPTurbo]

Oh awesome, they just did a big news report about it on the CBC! That means half of Canada has seen this! That's SEVEN whole people!!!

[Blake Noble]

It's so tempting to get the band out to play "Near My God to Thee" right now.

[vonVeezelsnider]

I'm just so tempted to go to a Toyota dealer now and say I want to buy a car.

"Oh wait, you don't have any to sell?"

Unless you want to buy a Yaris or Prius.

Seriously though I don't think their reputation will recover from this anytime soon. Every major news outlet in Calgary has been LEADING with this story all night and all morning including the two all news-talk radio stations. I'm taking some great enjoyment in this.

[siegen]

It's been all over the news here too.

I wonder how long it will last and what Toyota will have to do with current new inventory sitting on the lots. Total recall?

It just keeps getting worse and worse for Toyota. But look at it this way, at least they're finally getting serious about it; no more quick-fix tie-wraps (better late than never, right?). They should have done this from the start. I imagine there will be some firings at Toyota when this is all over.

[vonVeezelsnider]

It should also be noted that they;re doing this not completely on their own volition but rather because they have been legally required to do so.

[PurdueGuy]

It should also be noted that they;re doing this not completely on their own volition but rather because they have been legally required to do so.

And yet they're still blaming it on the floormats & pedals. Wasn't that at least partially debunked when the guy got his runaway camry to the dealer and had the techs examine it, confirming there was no issue with the pedal?

[Intrepidation]

Local news networks are covering it here as well.

[GMTruckGuy74]

A co-worker of mine, who is beginning the "new car buying" process and has owned nothing but Toyotas for the past 20 years, is now not considering solely a Toyota for her new purchase (she takes up to a year to research and select her new car). She has had several Corolla's and a couple of Camry's with "near perfection" reliability and dependability (though she takes care of the cars, age shows through on the paint and body of the 10 year old Corolla she drives to work and is planning to replace). In October she said it will "be another new Toyota, likely a Camry or Avalon". Last week she asked me what new Buick I was telling her about last fall (LaCrosse). Today she comments, "I'm not buying a new Toyota now!". However, she does go on to say that ever since Toyota stopped making their cars in Japan is when the problems started. Can you believe that? Oh sure, it wasn't designed in Japan, right? Cost-cutting didn't take place in Toyota's HQ in Japan, right? No, it's just when the cars come to North America for assembly by American workers!! However, if that means a sale for Buick (trust me, I'm pushin' it!) then let her comment all she wants about Toyota's failure

[Intrepidation]

I've seen that excuse used a few time by Toyota humpers...that any problem Toyotas have must be the fault of them being made here.

[ShadowDog]

It just keeps getting worse and worse for Toyota. But look at it this way, at least they're finally getting serious about it; no more quick-fix tie-wraps (better late than never, right?). They should have done this from the start. I imagine there will be some firings at Toyota when this is all over.

And yet they're still blaming it on the floormats & pedals. Wasn't that at least partially debunked when the guy got his runaway camry to the dealer and had the techs examine it, confirming there was no issue with the pedal?

This recent recall was being identified by the media as "unrelated" to the most mat and pedal issues.

[smk4565]

I am glad to see this, Toyota is the most over rated car company there is. Most of their products are class average, except for the Rav4 and Tacoma and their reliability/quality/dependability while above average is not the gold standard people make it out to be. Hopefully this makes people realize Toyota isn't all they are hyped to be. Toyota better be careful, otherwise Toyota of the 2010s could look like GM of the 1980s.

[Robert Hall]

I've been emailing the links of the articles to friends that are TTBs (Toyota True Believers) to see how they react..

In particular, I've been talking w/ friends in Denver the last few days--a friend's wife has a '99 Intrepid she bought new, she wants to replace it--getting pretty worn--she was going to C4C it last fall, but didn't..they seemed pretty hot about a Camry, ES, or RX after test driving them..not so much after I sent the links to the ABC videos and various articles on Toyota/Lexus problems. I've convinced her to give the Malibu, LaCrosse, Fusion, and Taurus a test drive...

Edited January 27, 2010 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Drew Dowdell]

Enterprise, National, Alamo (same company) and Avis, Budget (ditto), have removed Toyotas from their fleets.

[Justin Bimmer]

1/27/2010

No other automaker has a SINGLE day where you can say: "this is when they went to $h!"

Yeah, GM and Chrysler had bankruptcies, but they had their problems long before that. You have decades to argue over on when GM Chrysler and Ford went to $h!.

But, with Toyota, this is the day. When you say to your friends: "remember that day Toyota went to $h!?" You may not remember the exact date, but this is the day.

[Blake Noble]

OK, here's the band fellas:

[Robert Hall]

This is a great day... Toyota learns karma is a bitch. Their overrated mediocrity has caught up to them.

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

A co-worker of mine, who is beginning the "new car buying" process and has owned nothing but Toyotas for the past 20 years, is now not considering solely a Toyota for her new purchase (she takes up to a year to research and select her new car). She has had several Corolla's and a couple of Camry's with "near perfection" reliability and dependability (though she takes care of the cars, age shows through on the paint and body of the 10 year old Corolla she drives to work and is planning to replace). In October she said it will "be another new Toyota, likely a Camry or Avalon". Last week she asked me what new Buick I was telling her about last fall (LaCrosse). Today she comments, "I'm not buying a new Toyota now!". However, she does go on to say that ever since Toyota stopped making their cars in Japan is when the problems started. Can you believe that? Oh sure, it wasn't designed in Japan, right? Cost-cutting didn't take place in Toyota's HQ in Japan, right? No, it's just when the cars come to North America for assembly by American workers!! However, if that means a sale for Buick (trust me, I'm pushin' it!) then let her comment all she wants about Toyota's failure

Loved this post. For years the media and all these "appliance owners" bashed GM and Ford and swore up and down GM and Ford were building junk, and Consumer Reports had people believing that stuff. The truth is coming out. Notice no GM fan has had to do anything but sit back and watch what happens now. Now people are running to GM and Ford owners and saying tell me about that Chevrolet Malibu or Ford Fusion.

The sad part is these people would not go near a GM car for decades and not all GM cars were bad. Go find any GM car with a 3800 V6 and see what the owners tell you.

The automotive writers aided in this too. They would test drive a GM or Ford and find the smallest thing they would over look in a Toyota.

See, Toyota had this coming for a long time. I am not going to laugh or throw it in their face. They wanted to be GM and now they are acting like old GM. Honda and BMW are next with a reality check coming.