Toyota suspends sales, production of eight recalled models

By Tim Beissmann | January 27th, 2010

Toyota US has suspended sales of eight models while it finds a solution to the sticking accelerator problem that last week forced it to recall 2.3 million vehicles.

It will also stop production of the vehicles for the week beginning February 1.

Toyota Group vice president and Toyota Division general manager, Bob Carter, said the suspensions confirmed how seriously his company was taking the issue.

“Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company. This action is necessary until a remedy is finalised. We’re making every effort to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible,” he said.

As CarAdvice reported last week, Toyota believes “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”.

The eight suspended vehicles made up 65 percent of Toyota’s market share in the US in 2009, including the nation’s top-selling car, the Camry.

The latest accelerator pedal recall applies to the following vehicles:

2009-2010 RAV4
2009-2010 Corolla
2009-2010 Matrix
2005-2010 Avalon
2007-2010 Camry
2010 Highlander
2007-2010 Tundra
2008-2010 Sequoia

Toyota vehicles sold in Australia are not affected by the sticking accelerator problem or the recall.

(with Edmunds Inside Line)

WTF

Oh dear…..wasnt it just a floor mat problem? yeah right………lol So lets hear from the Toyota lovers……oh……..they have gone quiet!!!!

Oh what a feeling……suspended production\recall\poor design\ false reputation for quality………TOYOTA !!!!!
Mad Max

The problem with the internet and blog sites like Caradvice is that it allows people to post garbage, such as Patriot’s rant. You can type whatever you like on any subject and then hide behind some ficticious name so that we can’t see who you really are.
I have never in my life read so much rubbish. Why are Japanese cars “death traps”? Can you at least try and justify your rant or are you still drunk from Australia Day celebrations?

Andrew M

Good thing your real name is Mad Max and not some alias either…….

I sort of agree with your sentiment though…

Safety First

Okay, so here is a very honest question regarding Toyota and their position at present!!
I am not passing judgement I am asking!!
Toyota Corp had a massive change in it’s top level Executive positions not so long ago, since then they have posted a loss which when you take in terms of the forcastes profit turn around was rather massive.
Now you have recalls and ceased production for faulty parts. Part part failure that have been previously noted as one off’s and settled out of court (as per the internet legends / myths that you can google up). Now these parts, when failing, would give the symptons as those reported for the floor mat recall.
My question is multi faceted, but I’ll try to simplify.
How much has been hidden by the previous Hierarchy of Toyota (or did they go because they new this was comming)? Are we now getting the whole truth (as opposed to some white wash about flor mats)? How much did they payout in out of court settlements (if they are internet lies then state Zero)? And how much more around the globe is about to come tumbling down??
I would (and did) ask the same of any company (motoring or not) if they had a recent history as stormy as Toyota’s is at current so it’s not a personal gibe, it’s a concerned voice asking…
WTF

Where is the comment by Patriot?

Shak

my question exactly?

WTF

If this was a Ford article all the Toyota lovers would be here………

Andrew M

Should have baited them with a different headline you reckon???

Byron

And we all thought Holden was bad. Just shows TOYOTA isn’t perfect anyway. But Toyota makes Holden’s number of cars affected by recalls etc over the yearS not much of a problem at all. Lol. Toyota in general can go die in hell. Go HOLDEN!

Baddass

Byron, Byron, when will you see sense? I’ll make this real simple for you. Toyota makes a lot more cars than Holden. So when they come up with a problem and have to make a recall, they have to recall more cars than Holden in the equivalent situation. Toyota’s recalls are no worse and no better than Holden recalls, because the cars are being recalled, and are having the problems fixed.

This is not coming from a Toyota fan or a Holden-hater, it’s just the facts. It is also fact that your argument is a meaningless one, and your comments on Toyota are irrelevant and misguided. Please stick to what you know in future, such as your biased love of Holden. Cheers.

Well

Toyota cars are never built in a refined way
Matthew

If this doesn’t kill or seriously damage there sales in the long term I dont know what will. If this was GM, man they would be gone by now!!!
Jack

Toyota will be the next GM soon because of Quality problems……….
David

The higher you go, the harder you fall.
Toyota have grown too fast too soon and their quality in the process has suffered.
There is much better built cars out there now.
WTF

Byron…….dont open your mouth too soon mate. Whats the most recalled model of car in australian motoring history? The Commodore…….more recalls over the years than ANY OTHER CAR IN AUSTRALIA…….Go Holden.

Team Red

What’s the most popular model of car in Australian motoring history? The Commodore…more sold over the years than ANY OTHER CAR IN AUSTRALIA….Go Holden

Don’t let the facts get in the way..

Just more Holden faboy wishful thinking.

What about real history not just the last dozen years?

That’s the trouble with some people, they think history starts when they finally get out of nappies, and btw, that’s too late to be up on a school night.

FALCON, more sold in Australia over the years than any other – including Commadore!

WTF

Thats why its known as the Recall-adore.

Team Red

That’s why it’s number one, not number five haha

Pimp Stimpy

All those recalled models are either made in the US or Canada. Australian-market Toyota’s come from neither country, so I don’t care.

fourl6

We get the same cars and engine right? i dont see how the “accelerator pedal mechanism” can be all that different apart from being on the left hand side of the car which id assume would just require a different cable? (unless its drive by wire?)

Robin Graves

All the bulletproof Japanese cars have been made in Japan. As soon as they started farming off manufacture to western countries, quality suffered. This still seems to be the case. Look at the Datsun 1600 compared to the 180B, very similar mechanically, 1600 made in Japan, 180B made in Australia – 1600 was near indestructable, 180B fell to bits itself, blew smoke and the rear springs sagged. Now look to the current situation, nothing much has changed. Buy a car made in its home country or you are asking for trouble.
LSD

Team Red……It is a known fact that the VE is inferior to the FG. Read any comparison between the two cars and the FG always wins because it is the far better car. The Commode is a fleet vehicle sold at virtually no profit to boost sales. (75% are fleet sales) And its the base model. Ford sell only 3% of the base model which means they sell more of the up market models which they make more money on. So they are smart and will make more money from less sales ……..thats good business. For a Billion Dollar vehicle thats only 3 years old the VE has aged very badly inside and out and it shows.

Mad Max

Oh dear… I thought this article was about Toyota’s. As always we end up with rants about Falcon vs Commodore! WTF!
Bent 8 Brigade

Any comparison?
Would you care to wager on that…say ten grand?

Jack

Most comparisons, and most sane people. It’s been that way for a long, long time.

http://CarAdvice The Salesman

Any mass produced and globally distributed product is subject to failure. Recalls and warranty’s are in place because we should expect the unexpected. Toyota is amongst the best engineered cars in the world. I honestly don’t think there is such a thing as a bad car now days. I am sure Toyota and others do not set out to deliberately make bad cars.

Peter

Having had the regrettable experience of owning a Daewoo Leganza, I’d disagree that there is no such thing as a bad car. I traded it for less than half of what I paid for it after 10 months, and considered that I had the best of that bargain. I wholeheartedly agree with everything else you have said though. Even volvo had an issue with their throttle (from memory a stalling problem at speed in the s60) in the states a few years ago, and I had an s40T5 recalled for a minor thing, and jaggy was recalled for rear belts. It has been a few years since we’ve owned a Toyota, but we did have a few corollas/secas between the late 90′s to early naughties, and never had a day’s trouble with any of them, and they were pretty driveable too, especially the levins.
Safety First

However, if it was your product, the press (some members, mostly the groupd that follow the evening news…) would be having an utter field day. Similar to the way the Explorer was treated. However because it is Toyota, you actually have to go searching for it in the general media.
AS I mentioned above, it is not the recall that I question it is the handling of the problem and the rumours / myths that it has been going on for over ten years that has me questioning….. That is not making bad cars, that is having a bad attitude towards it’s buying public… something you and I both know that Hyundai Kia (and other small asians that you have sold) wouldn’t dream about doing..

homesickinbed

So much for the loved reliability of Toyota…but saying that you have to admire the strong approach they’re making. All cars have their issues, we know the Japanese produced makes have better customer satisfaction during ownership than anything else. Wouldn’t stop me buying a Toyota knowing about this, however you can’t say Toyota is totally reliable anymore.
JEKYL & HYDE

this is probably a storm in a teacup,until 4 people die when their car flips into a lake of course lolol…
Patrick

It is a supplier issue.Lexus and Toyota which were built in Japan do not have any problems whatsoever. The pedals are supplied by DENSO which is a automotive components supplier based in Japan.But those Lexus and Toyota vehicles which were built in North America are being recalled because their pedals are supplied by American based company. For more info please go to insideline.com
Patrick

Link: http://www.insideline.com/toyota/toyota-pedal-recall-update-3-why-lexus-and-scion-vehicles-are-not-affected.html
Engineer

It seems really strange that all these cases require a double failure, failure of the breaking system and the failure of the accelerator system.

If the underlying failure is somewhere in the computer control system, then it seems very strange that most of these incidents are occurring in the states, and not other countries (The fundamentals of the control system is the same across all Left hand and Right hand Toyota models).

It is also strange that the number of cases have increased after the increased media coverage.

Never the less the problem Toyota have on their hands is serious.