TERRE HAUTE — Owners of Toyota vehicles involved in two national recalls, one affecting a potentially sticky gas pedal, should expect dealers to begin repairing the problems early next week.
On Monday, Fred Mackey, parts and service director at Toyota of Terre Haute, fielded several telephone calls, including one from a customer asking if a particular vehicle was part of a recall.
“We have a lot of people just calling with questions more than anything else,” said R. Scott Jaeger, general manager at Toyota of Terre Haute. “Overall, I think our customers have been very understanding.”
“We will work real hard to get everybody in as quickly as possible for repairs,” he said.
Toyota engineers traced the possible sticky pedal, affecting about 4.3 million vehicles worldwide — including 2.3 million cars and trucks in the United States — to a friction device that provides the proper “feel” for the gas pedal by adding resistance.
A shoe in the device rubs against a metal surface during normal pedal use, but wear and environmental conditions can cause the pedals not to operate smoothly or, in rare cases, stick partially open.
Jaeger said a steel reinforcement bar will be installed in recalled vehicles, reducing friction that can cause a gas pedal to stick.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told Toyota last week that it was satisfied with the repair plan.
“The fix has us placing a metallic shim inside the gas pedal that will reduce the friction on the gas pedal as you depress it and release it back up. You shouldn’t notice any difference in the feel of the gas pedal, but the two materials that are rubbing on each other will be different now,” Jaeger said.
The repair should take about 30 minutes, and customers should be able to schedule repairs starting Monday or possibly earlier, Jaeger said.
“We will know more by midweek. We have not yet received technical directions on how to complete the repair, but we anticipate getting those by midweek and, hopefully, we should get a beginning supply of parts by the end of the week,” Jaegar said.
Toyota on Monday said it would suspend production of eight U.S. models affected by the recall this week, with factories restarting on Feb. 8.
The recall in this country includes the 2009-10 RAV4 crossover, the 2009-10 Corolla, the 2009-10 Matrix hatchback, the 2005-10 Avalon, the 2007-10 Camry, the 2010 Highlander crossover, the 2007-10 Tundra pickup and the 2008-10 Sequoia SUV.
The recall also has been expanded to another 1.9 million vehicles in Europe and China.
Toyota said that not all the models of Camry, RAV4, Corolla and Highlander listed in the recall have the suspect gas pedals, which were supplied by CTS Corp. of Elkhart. Models made in Japan, and some models built in the United States, have pedal systems made by another parts supplier, Denso Corp., and those parts function well.
All Matrix, Avalon, Tundra and Sequoia models covered by the recall have the potentially faulty pedals.
In addition to the recall for sticky gas pedals, Toyota is in the process of recalling vehicles to fix a floormat problem. Some of its models are affected by both recalls, and the company said it intends to fix both problems at the same time.
The pedal recall is separate from floormats, which can bend and push down accelerators on certain Toyota and Lexus models. The combined recalls affect more than 7 million vehicles worldwide.
Jaeger said Toyota “will reshape the gas pedal to allow more clearance between the floor of the car and the gas pedal and that will reduce the likelihood of an incorrect floor mat or improperly installed floor mat from getting caught. There has never been an issue with properly installed floormats,” he said.
“There is lot of overlap between the two recalls, so what we are going to attempt to do is try to get people in here one time to get them both repaired. We don’t have exact numbers yet for how many cars are affected in our market area,” Jaeger said.
All customers involved in the recall will receive a notification by mail.
“Anymore, as the automobile industry turns into a global business, this may happen more and more often as one supplier supplies a part across multiple platforms of vehicles. Unfortunately, if something goes wrong with that part, it affects a lot of people,” Jaeger said.
Toyota of Terre Haute is at 7030 S. U.S. Highway 41. Customers with questions, Jaeger said, can call the dealership at (812) 298-3300.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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