Toyota, or Tayota? Is the Dominican Republic�s favourite car maker losing its grip on reliability and safety

posted on: Feb 5 2010 8:39 by Royston. Viewed 201 times.


Toyota estimated the recall and repair of more than 5.6 million vehicles will cost about $1.1 billion, and shaken consumer confidence could result in $770 million to $890 million from lost sales.

The recalls in U.S, Europe and other areas involve mechanical repairs to a gas pedal on 4.5 million vehicles. Toyota has acknowledged that pedals of some of those models may stick or fail to return to idle position and contribute to the risk of unintended acceleration.

A separate recall covers 4.2 million vehicles in the US, including some covered by the gas pedal recall. On those vehicles Toyota is removing or replacing all-weather floor mats as there is a possibility  can interfere with the accelerator, another contributing factor to the unintended acceleration problem.

Also, this week there were over a hundred complaints received in Japan and the U.S. by the malfunction of the brakes of the latest  version of the hybrid Toyota Prius. At least in one case, causing an accident with two people injured.

Toyota executives played down those potential failures today, describing it as "a software problem" for which they had already taken action.

The heads of Toyota acknowledged that, after the initial claim, the problem was identified and, in January, made a change to the software that coordinates the ABS brakes .

Hiroyuki Yokoyama, one of the chiefs of division of Toyota, said the delay in ABS braking only occurs on bumpy or slippery ground and "does not compromise the security of the driver or passengers."