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Many Toyota Prius owners continue to experience sporadic episodes of sudden, unintended acceleration while driving their cars, even without floor mats jamming the throttle wide open or the gas pedal sticking. Toyota included all 2004-2009 Prius models in the floor mat entrapment recall it announced last fall, but did not include the Prius in its subsequent recall of Toyotas for sticking accelerator pedals.
Toyota has found itself in a rather sticky situation. With more than eight million cars and trucks worldwide falling under a massive recall due to sudden unintended acceleration, the Japanese carmaker is looking for some sort of solution to pacify a growing anxious consumer base. Last fall, it blamed floor mats for the problem. Last month, Toyota announced the problem also fell on the vehicles’ gas pedals.
It can take years for a company to build up a reputation as a maker of good, reliable products. But that stellar reputation can quickly tarnish when lives are at stake. Just ask Toyota Motor Sales (TMS). The Japanese automaker has already launched an image-mending campaign aimed at countering the negative vibe customers may have following the company’s recall of 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. due to reports of sticky gas pedals that have caused unintended acceleration. The Jan. 21 recall follows a fall 2009 Toyota recall of floor mats because of concerns that gas pedals could stick to the mats, causing unintended acceleration.
In its latest recall involving 2.3 million vehicles, Toyota said that the throttle assemblies in eight models could wear over time, causing the gas pedal to stick in open position, return to idle too slowly, or generally become less responsive. Today, the manufacturer of those throttle mechanisms, CTS Corporation, issued a statement firmly insisting that its parts are not responsible for any of the unintended acceleration incidents involving Toyota vehicles.
Yoshi Inaba, Toyota’s highest ranking executive in the United States, says that his company’s latest recall of millions of vehicles has taught Toyota some valuable lessons. Speaking to an audience gathered at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, Inaba seemed eager to hit the re-set button with the American public through admission of Toyota’s past errors.
Toyota’s reputation for quality and safety continues to take a beating, not only in the United States but throughout the world. The automaker is now recalling approximately 43,000 cars in China to repair a defect that could cause the engine’s oil to leak. The Lexus ES 350, which is one of the eight Toyota models blamed in the United States for unintended acceleration problems, is one of the models included in the China recall. The others are the Lexus RX 350, the Highlander sports utility vehicle, and the Previa minivan.
Yesterday I finally received the letter from Toyota announcing the recall of my Tacoma truck and 7 other Toyota and Lexus models manufactured in recent years. Toyota announced last month that it would notify owners of certain models that their vehicles had the potential to accelerate suddenly and unexpectedly. The company has been working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to discover the cause of the problem, develop a solution, and keep consumers informed.
“Neither driver error nor floor mats can explain away many other frightening instances of runaway Toyotas,” said an attorney for two men who filed a lawsuit against the car manufacturer in a California federal court on November 5. “Until the company acknowledges the real problem and fixes it, we worry that other preventable injuries and deaths will occur,” the attorney for the men said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a statement on Thursday to correct what it said was “inaccurate and misleading information” announced and circulated by Toyota about its latest safety recall. The car manufacturer is recalling 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles to correct a defect that can cause the vehicles to accelerate suddenly and unintentionally.
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