Toyota... Another Recall (TM)

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) may have been the most revered auto company of the world for reliability, but recall issues are making this company sound more and more like a Detroit auto company every day.  Today, the company has just announced a new recall of a total of 2.3 million vehicles, and this is not tied at all to the floor mat pedal entrapment issues causing a 4.2 million unit recall for Toyota and Lexus models.  This is over sticking accelerator pedals, and the company noted that about 1.7 million Toyota vehicles are subject to both recall notices.

The company has said it has investigated isolated reports of sticking accelerator pedal mechanisms in certain Toyota vehicles without floor mats.  It noted, “… 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 condition is rare, but can occur when the pedal mechanism becomes worn and, in certain conditions, the accelerator pedal may become harder to depress, slower to return or, in the worst case, stuck in a partially depressed position.”

The recall affects the  following models:

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

This sounds far different from the Audi’s old sudden acceleration issues, but it is far from a positive development at the one company which the public and auto industry revered for years and years.

JON C. OGG