Toyota Temporarily Suspends Sales of Selected Vehicles

TORRANCE, Calif., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- 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.

Toyota Temporarily Suspends Sales of Selected Vehicles -- TORRANCE, Calif., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ --

yeah, it's sort of related to 4th Gen - for those of us shopping for a T4R, this may either drive people away from Toyotas and drop prices ... or it may drive them toward a T4R (not listed above) instead of one of the other vehicles previously considered, and raise values
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...or I could be over-analyzing things again .... it's happened before

Thank gawd they left our 4Runner's alone. :lookout:

Looks like NUMMI is unaffected until plant closing.

This sticking has happened to me twice in my 2005 4runner.

Timberline,

Thank you for posting this!!

I just heard it on the radio & saw it on the news

Toyota vehicles created in Japan are not affected.

Toyota halting sales and production of most models

not good news. could artificially drive up demand for 4runners and make bargaining power lost in next few months. just my luck!

The Canadian Press: Toyota suspending sales of 8 models involved in accelerator sticking recall

Toyota Temporarily Suspends Sales of Selected Vehicles
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/gener...pends-sales-selected-vehicles.html#post502356

via Timberline

Thank goodness my Sienna is also not affected...or at least, not yet. Toyota's reputation of late has taken the wrong turn.

Atlanta_man said:

This sticking has happened to me twice in my 2005 4runner.

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It's happened to me 3 times and I also have a 2005 4Runner.

:wow2:

T4Fun said:

not good news. could artificially drive up demand for 4runners and make bargaining power lost in next few months. just my luck!

The Canadian Press: Toyota suspending sales of 8 models involved in accelerator sticking recall

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I doubt many people will go from a Corolla or Camry to a 4runner.

They will more likely go for a Civic or Accord.

Wow, this is REALLY not good for Toyota. It's really sad to see their reputation for quality slowly go down the toilet. Well, at least the 4Runner's aren't affected. (Knock on wood)

4Funnr said:

I doubt many people will go from a Corolla or Camry to a 4runner.

They will more likely go for a Civic or Accord.

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Agreed. This won't mean more sales of the 4Runner. I would expect that if it does anything to 4Runner sales, it will decrease them as people lose faith in Toyota or don't realize that the 4Runner isn't involved in the recall.

M1911 said:

Agreed. This won't mean more sales of the 4Runner. I would expect that if it does anything to 4Runner sales, it will decrease them as people lose faith in Toyota or don't realize that the 4Runner isn't involved in the recall.

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That's exactly what I'm worried about. I've been driving/buying vehicles for almost 25 years and this is the first Toyota I've ever owned. I hear about Toyota and quality on a regular basis and as soon as I own one, a huge issue comes up. I hope this doesn't hurt Toyota in the long run.

Unfortunately, no matter how one looks at this situation it is not good for Toyota.
The executives at the company both in the USA and in Japan simply must get their house in order.
One really has to wonder if Toyota knows :wtf: is causing the problems or not.
If not, then their technical know how comes into question.
If they know what the problem is and they are being less than honest and forthright about it to the public then their honor and integrity come into question.
Like I said not good for the company.

One has to wonder how long it will take before the dog & pony show in Washington, DC comes about regarding this situation.
Since Congress has nothing better to do with their time (yes I am being sarcastic), they will no doubt hold Congressional hearings and "invite" Toyota
executives to come and testify before Congress. Time will tell if this happens or not I suppose.

Anyway, I do applaud Toyota for halting the sales of the vehicles involved but I cannot help but wonder why it had to get to that level in the first place??

adoihcj said:

I hope this doesn't hurt Toyota in the long run.

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I think it will cause Toyota to refocus on quality.

In the short term, I expect that RAV4 buyers will likely look at a CRV, Camry buyers will likely look at Accord and Fusion, Highlander buyers may look at the Pilot, and Corolla buyers may look at the Civic.

This is definitely not good news, but Toyota has enough money in the bank to absorb the short-term hickup in sales.

I posted this December 2009 news item a few weeks ago in another thread, but thought I would repost it here since it deals with Toyota quality and reliability moving forward.

REPORT: Toyota cutting supplier expenses by 30%, probably means using cheaper parts — Autoblog "....Toyota told its suppliers to cut their prices by 30-40%. Can anyone guess how suppliers will most likely remove one-third the cost of their parts? If you said 'use cheaper materials,' we have your prize backstage...." with 2013 inventory being the first impacted by this cost cutting/cheaper parts. This follows an intiative in 2006/2007 (??) to cut costs by somewhere around 30%.

Apparently the accelerator component in question is manufactured by CTS Automotive, whereas Denso is the supplier for the rest of Toyota's vehicles (including 4Runners). From what I've read, the accelerator components are wearing prematurely. I'm not implying that cost cutting resulted in this latest issue, but there is no doubt that 30-40% in supplier costs on top of the 30% cut a few years ago (meaning cheaper parts) will result in less reliability, lower quality and less longevity for Toyota products. They've got their reputation (for now), but as they move forward towards profitability at the expense of quality parts.....you can guess the rest.

Could it be a good thing?

As someone who is THISCLOSE to pulling the trigger on purchasing a new T4R, I'm hoping that Toyota pulls an "oh crap" move, and the new incentives released on 01 Feb are super sweet (and include the 4Runner, despite how new the model is right now).

Doesn't help those of you that have already purchased, though.

However, I wouldn't worry about Toyota quality. The fact that they're willing to go to this extreme to flush the problem from the system is telling in and of itself. Stuff happens - it just happens RARELY for Toyota. This is big news because this is UNUSUAL for Toyota.

sp8ball said:

However, I wouldn't worry about Toyota quality. The fact that they're willing to go to this extreme to flush the problem from the system is telling in and of itself. Stuff happens - it just happens RARELY for Toyota. This is big news because this is UNUSUAL for Toyota.

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I think it is fair to say that Toyota has had some quality misses in recent years that they didn't have 10 years ago. Toyota's rush to get models out quickly in recent years has resulted in lower testing, and that has resulted in quality issues.

any vehicle accelerator can stuck..
Toyota may have plan to CLOSE more plants.. LAY OFF more workers. US media exagerated the coverage about that lexus accelerator.. to drive buyers into american cars.. so why not ride in this one, recall more cars, then close more dealership anyway year 2010 is still very dim for this economy to rise.