Toyota Halts Us Sales Of 8 Models

[gambit4000s]

So enough of my fellow Americans have failed so bad in life that operating an automobile is out of their range of skills.

 

WASHINGTON – Toyota is suspending U.S. sales of eight car and truck models to fix sticking gas pedals and halting production lines at plants from Texas to Canada to deal with the problem, the latest to confront the world's No. 1 automaker.

 

The suspended sales, announced Tuesday, involve a significant portion of Toyota Motor Co.'s fleet and some of its most popular vehicles, including the Camry and Corolla. As part of the plan, Toyota is halting some production at five assembly plants beginning the week of Feb. 1 "to assess and coordinate activities."

 

There are 2.3 million vehicles involved in the recall, which was announced last week. Toyota has said it was unaware of any accidents or injuries due to the pedal problems associated with the recall, but could not rule them out for sure.

 

"This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized," said Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice president and general manager.

 

The Japanese automaker said the sales suspension includes the following models: the 2009-2010 RAV4, the 2009-2010 Corolla, the 2007-2010 Camry, the 2009-2010 Matrix, the 2005-2010 Avalon, the 2010 Highlander, the 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia.

 

Aaron Bragman, an auto analyst for the consulting firm IHS Global Insight in Troy, Mich., said Toyota typically sells about 65,000 Camrys and Corollas a month, and the frozen sales could strike the company's bottom line and reputation for quality.

 

"That's huge if they can't sell these and they don't have a fix identified. They need to go and get a solution to this fast," Bragman said.

 

Toyota sold more than 34,000 Camrys in December, making the midsize sedan America's best-selling car. It commands 3.4 percent of the U.S. market and sales rose 38 percent from a year earlier. Sales of the Corolla and Matrix, a small sedan and a hatchback, totaled 34,220 last month, with 3.3 percent of the market and sales up nearly 55 percent from December of 2008.

 

It was unclear how long Toyota would suspend production of the vehicles. In an e-mail to employees, company officials said, "we don't know yet how long this pause will last but we will make every effort to resume production soon."

 

Toyota officials did not immediately return phone messages.

 

The automaker said the move would affect plants in Princeton, Ind., Lafayette, Ind., Georgetown, Ky., San Antonio, Texas, and a facility in Ontario, Canada. About 300 workers who build V8 engines at a Toyota plant in Huntsville, Ala., will also be affected, said Stephanie Deemer, a spokeswoman for the plant.

 

Deemer said workers there would have the option of receiving additional training, take vacation or unpaid leave.

 

Toyota said no other North American Toyota facility would be affected by the decision.

 

Toyota dealers said they were concerned the move would hamper sales and were hopeful parts to fix the problem could be distributed quickly.

 

"They're going the extra mile to reassure people that they really care about the customers," said Earl Stewart, owner of a Toyota dealership in North Palm Beach, Fla. "It is something that's going to be at least a short-term hardship on the dealers, and especially on Toyota."

 

The auto company said the sales suspension would not affect Lexus or Scion vehicles. Toyota said the Prius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser and select Camry models, including all Camry hybrids, would remain for sale.

 

Toyota said last week it was recalling 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix accelerator pedals with mechanical problems that could cause them to become stuck.

 

The announcement followed a larger recall months earlier of 4.2 million vehicles because of problems with gas pedals becoming trapped under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration. That problem was the cause of several crashes, including some fatalities.

 

Owners with questions can call the Toyota Customer Experience Center at (800) 331-4331.

 

___

 

AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.

Edited January 27, 2010 by gambit4000s

[irokin]

Whoa. There hasn't really been much press coverage of the throttle issues down here (thought I do avoid a lot of main stream media) but thats pretty big to be stopping production to fix it. I've been following it for a couple of months since the first big Lexus crash back in like August via a few news feeds I monitor.

 

Toyota has said it was unaware of any accidents or injuries due to the pedal problems associated with the recall, but could not rule them out for sure.

 

Well yea, they are, but they aren't to avoid admitting liability. Though it would seem the two bad accidents I know of were entirely avoidable if a competent driver was behind the wheel.

 

Fading into the background of this issue -- with hundreds of alleged accidents causing numerous injuries and deaths -- is that barring some unrelated flaw with the vehicles involved, an incident of unintended acceleration can be stopped by just putting the car in neutral and then braking to a stop without the engine fighting. Consumer Reports magazine tested this on its race track and the owner of a Toyota Avalon was forced to verify it on public streets -- one little nudge of the gear selector will let you stop safely and easily.

http://www.examiner.com/x-1017-Autos-Exami...tas-recall-saga

 

 

Still, very damaging for Toyota's image.

[7shades]

You can also hold the start button down for 3 seconds to kill the engine under any circumstance regardless of gear or speed... But nobody knew that.

[JiP]

Americans aren't that smart. I climbed the Story bridge yesterday with one. Was so dumb and after being told stuff he'd do the wrong thing.

[towe001]

Used to work with a Canadian that had plenty of stories of Ameri-can't's and their wacky ways...

 

Damaging yeah in a way but look at Ford and its Exploder (aka Explorer) and Hummer and its..... Hummer (just scraps though with its crash rating of 2 stars or something) - people still buy them...

[Teddy]

You simply need to live in america for a few weeks to comprehend the why and how factors to some of these intelligence related issues that keep getting dug up. Its.. sad to say, but for a nation that seam so overly friendly to help Auzzies in there own local neibourhood, when your government is basically incharge of ... well everything, but in particular the media - the term self absorbed comes to mind. You get bomb barded with information every day - on anything and everything through to about what is happening in your own country. You have the art of human ergonomics in the area of convenience down to an art. Its as if because everything is made so easy, there in font of you.. you loose the bother to actually think for yourself sometimes, because your.. simply so use to thinks just being clockwork and running.. how they should. So something that appears to be common sense over this edge of the equator.. up there.. it just might not seam like that. I shouldn't generalise, but when you get asked several times in a few weeks were is and what is Australia... it really does give you a case of dandruff in the end..

 

Toyota Toyota Toyota... silly you. lol

[LittleRedSpirit]

Ive been reading about the stuck throttle issues on some forums around the place. I came accross it while looking for information on the 2azfe. Apparently its all linked to drive by wire issues.

[Hiro Protagonist]

And even if you can't put the tranny into neutral (either manual or auto, although Americans don't know what a manual is), you should be able to slam on the brakes. Every modern car should have brakes powerful enough to stop the car even with full power applied (it takes less time to stop from 100km/h than it does to accelerate there).

 

Either way, this could be VERY damaging for Toyota US. If anyone can remember the debacle with the Audi 5000, they'll know the damage even a single incident can cause. Audi was forced to drop the 5000 name (even though they were entirely not at fault and cleared of any charges), and Audi sales in the US plummeted and didn't return to former levels for 15 years

Edited January 27, 2010 by Hiro Protagonist

[7shades]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7UKllR0Edo

[JiP]

Turns out it was bigger than first estimated. They have now recalled cars in China and some of Europe I think the TV said.

 

The other car makers in the US are already making offers for trades on the defective cars.

[gambit4000s]

although Americans don't know what a manual is

quoted for truth, thank god eBay has a "transmission" search filter

 

Either way, this could be VERY damaging for Toyota US. If anyone can remember the debacle with the Audi 5000, they'll know the damage even a single incident can cause. Audi was forced to drop the 5000 name (even though they were entirely not at fault and cleared of any charges), and Audi sales in the US plummeted and didn't return to former levels for 15 years

strange you mention Audi as I have owned 15 4000S quattros, Audi still to this day will buy back your 5000 if you experience unintended acceleration. There is a tuner called Intended Acceleration.

Edited January 29, 2010 by gambit4000s

[irokin]

*palmface* http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/toyota-ceo-a...tory?id=9700622

 

 

I hope that prick resigns caws hes driving toyota into the ground. Time to go back to basics and make cars with throttle cables again.

[Teddy]

would be truely awesome if they brought the cable back. or even better, adr changes to all throttles must have physical connection between pedal and motor.

[gambit4000s]

*palmface* http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/toyota-ceo-a...tory?id=9700622

 

 

I hope that prick resigns caws hes driving toyota into the ground. Time to go back to basics and make cars with throttle cables again.

 

After the press conference he left in an Audi.... Oh the irony...

[irokin]

And the law suits start to flow:

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/02/02/toyota...al-woes-deepen/