Toyota!?

Many people have heard about the recent Toyota recall on about 4.2 million Toyota vehicles. Toyota has rarely ever been scrutinized for anything they have made and have been known for their reliability for many years. Until recently, Toyota was one of the very few car manufacturers that had not been effected by this recession that the United States has fallen into. Now, they have millions of cars on the road that have to be brought in to be serviced or the owners could face serious injury or even death.

Late last year, Toyota had a recall on the floor mats in many of their vehicles. This recall was due to the floor mats catching on the accelerator pedal causing the car to continue accelerating with out the drivers foot on the actual pedal. This may not seem like a major issue, but it has been the source of many accidents. A good friend of mine works at the local Priority Toyota and told me that they cut the bottom of the gas pedals and took the floor mats out of the drivers side for a quick fix. Recently they have installed clips to hold the mats down, therefore, solving the problem.

The more recent recall has to do with many of the Toyota vehicles getting the accelerator stuck open in return making the car speed off out of control. This problem has killed at least two families in the last few months. Others were more fortunate and were able to regain control before any harm could be done. Because of the severity of this problem, Toyota owners were encouraged to get their vehicles fixed as soon as possible.

Because of this recent recall, Priority Toyota has their employees working twelve hour shifts, and massive amounts of overtime. They went from working the usual eight to four shifts, to running two shifts, one from seven to seven and the other from twelve to twelve. This is costing them money, and at a time like this, no one can afford to loose money.

The recall goes much further than just Toyota, and the driver's of Toyotas. My dad, the owner of Tidewater Auto Auction, has dealers calling him asking him, “Do you allow Toyotas to sell out there?”. Even the used car dealers are having trouble getting rid of them. No matter what year they were made people do not want them anymore. People have lost trust in what was once know as a great car manufacturer. Hopefully Toyota will straighten their reputation out this year or it may cost them everything.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2010-01-21-toyota-recall-gas-pedal_N.htm