2010 Camry from Toyota.com
The Big Three Detroit automakers are not the only vehicle manufacturers who have hit a few bumps in the road. In an unprecedented move industry leader, Toyota, is telling dealers to temporarily suspend sales of eight of its models, in the wake of a massive safety recall, that according to a news release yesterday from Toyota Motor Sales USA, headquartered in Torrance out in the South Bay.
Last Thursday, Toyota announced a U.S. recall of 2.3 million vehicles to fix a problem that could cause the accelerator pedal to stick. “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.” Group Vice-President and Toyota Division General Manager Bob Carter said in a news alert on the company’s website. This is the second major U.S. recall for Toyota, in the past few months.
This latest recall and the sales suspension of some of its models threatens to damage Toyota’s reputation for quality and safety that is known worldwide. Also, due to the accelerator pedal problem and the sales freeze, Toyota will stop production of the affected models in the first week of February.
Today, Toyota posted some frequently asked questions and answers about the accelerator pedal problem on its website. Toyota’s accelerator pedal recall and suspension of sales involve the following vehicles:
- 2009-2010 RAV4,
- 2009-2010 Corolla,
- 2009-2010 Matrix,
- 2005-2010 Avalon,
- Certain 2007-2010 Camry
- 2010 Highlander except hybrid models,
- 2007-2010 Tundra,
- 2008-2010 Sequoia
Toyota’s Camry claims bragging rights to the best selling car in the U.S. for eleven of the last twelve years. In car-loving Southern California, where there are probably more vehicles than anywhere else in the world, Camrys are very popular. It will be interesting to see if Toyota’s latest troubles cool-off the sales of that hot model.
