Toyota Recall: Speed and Greed?

January 28th, 2010. By janem

Perhaps car makers, Toyota in particular, should figure out how crash test dummies can work a worn gas pedal–it might have saved lives. The latest accelerator recall is none too soon: In March 2007 Toyota began receiving reports that pedals were operating roughly or were slow to return to the idle position in the Tundra pickup, and again in December 2008, similar problems with its Aygo and Yaris models.

Toyota reported the Tundra problem was fixed in February 2008 and said it lengthened a part and changed the material to fix Aygo and Yaris, starting in August 2009. But the world’s largest auto maker recently seems to be plagued with even bigger problems.

On its website, Toyota says that “certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position…it 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.”  YIKES!

Just months ago, the company recalled of 4.2 million vehicles due to its gas pedals getting trapped under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration. Several crashes, including a number of fatalities, prompted that recall. This recent recall involves eight models affecting more than 2.3 million vehicles.

Toyota has one of the best track records for building safe cars, so why has it gone off the rails-or I should say, assembly line? Perhaps greed is a component. Analysts say the company’s former president, Katsuaki Watanabe, was a cost-cutting expert with an aggressive growth strategy that landed Toyota into the Number 1 global sales spot two years ago, beating out General Motors.

Wanna know what happened to Watanabe? In 2006, the Japanese government launched a criminal investigation into accidents suspected of being linked to vehicle problems, though nobody was charged. Watanabe later acknowledged overzealous growth was behind the quality problems.

Last year, Watanabe was replaced by Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota’s founder. I bet Toyoda is pissed.

Toyota predicts that 2.19 million vehicles will be sold in North America in 2010, up 11 per cent from 2009. Globally, Toyota said it was planning sales of 8.27 million vehicles this year, up 6 per cent from 2009. But those targets might need to be tweaked somewhat…

Tags: defective auto, Toyota, toyota recall

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