Toyota Fixing Sticking Accelerator Pedals with 'Simple and Effective' Modification
By Michelle Krebs January 31, 2010Toyota Motor Corp., its reputation for unparalleled quality challenged by a recall of millions of 
vehicles for potentially unsafe sticking accelerator pedals, said Monday its engineers have devised a modification for the electronically controlled accelerator-pedal modules that the company can begin to deploy in a week or so.
"Nothing is more important to us than the safety and reliability of the vehicles our customers drive," said Jim Lentz, president and Chief Operating Officer, TMS. "We deeply regret the concern that our recalls have caused for our customers and we are doing everything we can - as fast as we can - to make things right."
Lentz was scheduled to appear on NBC's "Today" show Monday morning. He will hold a news briefing later in the morning.
The modification - the fitment of a "steel reinforcement bar" that fits in a gap in the pedal's friction damper - has been approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The fix will take dealer technicians about 30 minutes to install, Toyota said.
The friction-damper revision also will be used in the redesign of the pedal assembly for all newly produced versions of the eight affected models going forward, a company representative said.
A Toyota executive told AutoObserver it is a "simple and effective solution" and the company has "high confidence in this remedy." The new part was developed by Toyota in Japan and "is the most effective remedy we can come up with," said a Toyota spokesman. He added that the company's engineers have been working around the clock to devise a solution that not only would solve the problem that has brought several of Toyota's production lines to a standstill but also could be quickly deployed as a field remedy for the 2.3 million U.S. vehicles involved in the recall.
If Toyota decided to replace the entire pedal assembly in all the recalled vehicles, manufacturing enough of the parts could take months, the company said. Instead, the reinforcement bar will be available in little more than a week and Toyota is hoping to prioritize retrofitting the recalled vehicles by first repairing those with accelerator pedals confirmed to be exhibiting sticking symptoms.
Simple and Effective
Toyota designed what has been described as a steel reinforcement bar that reduces the tension between two friction surfaces in the pedal damper that is meant to make the pedal return smoothly and consistently when the foot is lifted from the pedal. It was the amount of designed friction in the damper that, under certain conditions, could become affected, causing the pedal to return slowly after being depressed or perhaps stay depressed.
Meanwhile, the pedal assemblies for new vehicles also will incorporate the reinforcement bar, Toyota said. As of Monday, the company said it was unsure of when production of new vehicles, halted when NHTSA and Toyota agreed the part was potentially defective, will resume.
Eight Toyota models, each involving specific model years, are affected: 2009-'10 RAV4; 2009-'10 Corolla; 2009-'10 Matrix; 2005-'10 Avalon; certain 2007-'10 Camrys; 2010 Highlander; 2007-'10 Tundra; and 2008-'10 Sequoia.
"Stopping production is never an easy decision, but we are 100% confident it was the right decision," Lentz said in a statement. "We know what's causing the sticking accelerator pedals, and we know what we have to do to fix it. We also know it is most important to fix this problem in the cars on the road."
Standard Procedures
Although Toyota is anxious to adapt the accelerator pedals as quickly as possible, it says it will follow standard recall procedures that involve contacting customers by phone, mail or directly through dealers,
The company identified early warnings of the condition months ago, but a spokesman said "This is a very rare situation." Customers are being advised to take action according to their own sense of urgency, as the company continues to stress the vehicles are "safe to drive" - with the potential for a problem unlikely.
Toyota is urging anyone driving one of the affected vehicles to contact a dealer immediately, however, if the accelerator behavior becomes sticky or erratic.
This recall and the pedal modification remains separate and distinct from an earlier recall of several million additional models for the possibility floormats might gather around the accelerator, also preventing it from returning after being depressed. Some models are affected by both recalls.
While floormats have been blamed for causing several accidents involving uncontrollable acceleration, Toyota believes there is no direct evidence to date that sticking pedals have led to any accidents, injuries or deaths. - Bill Visnic, Senior Editor
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"While floormats have been blamed for causing several accidents involving uncontrollable acceleration, Toyota believes there is no direct evidence to date that sticking pedals have led to any accidents, injuries or deaths."
Left unsaid ? ....oh yeah, we're the ones that blamed floormats... after all, if we can blame any accidents on floormats, then we're not liable for our ....er, I mean, those errors
below from
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/business/01toyota.html?em
"As recently as the fall, Toyota was still saying it was confident that loose floor mats were the sole cause of any sudden acceleration, issuing an advisory to millions of Toyota owners to remove them. The company said on Nov. 2 that “there is no evidence to support” any other conclusion, and added that its claim was backed up by the federal traffic safety agency.
But, in fact, the agency had not signed on to the explanation, and it issued a sharp rebuke. Toyota’s statement was “misleading and inaccurate,” the agency said. “This matter is not closed.”
......Indeed, Toyota had to be told by regulators to shut down production and suspend sales of the cars and trucks in the latest recall until it had the parts necessary to fix them. It was yet another example of a slow response ....."
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