After several accidents, one of them claiming the lives of an entire family on a suburban San Diego highway, Toyota acknowledged it had a problem (Tribune). But critics said the defect must be more than simply a bad floor mat that jammed accelerators (Toyota).
Toyota eventually admitted that the accelerators themselves were to blame for accidents in which the pedals got stuck and drivers were unable to stop their vehicles (News Inferno).
Now, Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. has instructed dealers to suspend sales of eight models (CNN).
The company also will temporarily halt production of those vehicles: 2009-2010 RAV4, Corolla and Matrix; 2005-2010 Avalon; certain 2007-2010 Camrys; 2010 Highlander; 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia.
Nearly 2.3 million vehicles are affected by the recall but Toyota so far has not found a way to fix the defect. Stopping sales of recalled goods is normal, but the CNN article cites a Toyota spokesman's statement that stopping production of recalled cars is unusual.
The massive recall affects more cars than the 1.8 million units Toyota sold in all of 2009, so the car maker no doubt wants to make sure they get it absolutely right before rolling another car off the assembly line.
There is some overlap, but pedal recall is separate from an ongoing recall of 4.2 million models due to the floor mat issue.
- Toyota Recalls Millions for Faulty Accelerators (Chicago Personal Injury Blog)
- Toyota recall: 2.3 million cars (CNN)
- Chicago Injury Attorneys (FindLaw)
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