Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) has again got into a fix with the same sticking accelerator gas-pedal problem. Toyota plans to recall 2.2 million vehicles this time in contrast to a similar situation faced in November 2009.
The recall includes 769,000 units of some sport utility vehicle models, 20,000 units of Lexus sedans, and nearly 1.4 million vehicles as an extension to its November 2009 recall.
The models at stake are Toyota Highlander (2004-06), Lexus RX (2004-07), Lexus GS (2006-07), Toyota 4Runner (2003-09), Lexus LX 570 (2008-11), and Toyota Rav4 (2006-10).
In November 2009, the automaker had recalled the largest-ever U.S. batch of 3.8 million vehicles, triggered by an untoward incident of a California Highway Patrol officers death along with his family riding on a defective Lexus ES350.
Investigators with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have found an oversized rubber all-weather floor mat while clearing the wreckage. There could be high chances of the mat covering the accelerator pedal and be a nuisance for a speeding vehicle.
This recall was made for popular vehicles such as the Toyota Camry (2007–10 model year) – the top-selling passenger car in the U.S., and the Toyota Prius (2004–09) – the best-selling gas-electric hybrid, apart from Toyota Avalon (2005–10), Toyota Tacoma (2005–10), Toyota Tundra (2007–10) and Lexus (2007–10 ES350 and 2006–10 IS250/350).
In January 2010, again, Toyota held back the sale of 8 models along with another round of recall of 2.3 million vehicles due to the same problem. The automaker has noticed sticking accelerator pedal in certain vehicles without any floor mat interference.
The sale suspension had a toll on models such as RAV4 crossover (2009-2010), Corolla (2009-2010), Matrix (2009-2010), Avalon (2005-2010), Camry (2007-2010), Highlander (2010), Tundra (2007-2010) and Sequoia (2008-2010).
After a lot of survey and testing, Toyota believed that the gas-pedal problem is actually twofold – loose floor mats that can interfere with the accelerator pedals and a dysfunctional pedal all by itself could lead to such vehicle failure/ accident.
Earlier last month, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) completed a 10-month investigation into Toyota vehicles in order to find out whether they are susceptible to sudden acceleration failure due to electronic glitch.
The agency gave a clean chit to Toyota stating that the sudden acceleration was caused not by electrical failures – as asserted by critics and lawyers – but due to mechanical problems and floor mat entrapment. However, it has asked Toyota to recall some additional vehicles, making the latest recall of 1.4 million units.
The past string of recalls has tarnished Toyota’s reputation, resulting in declining sales and lower vehicle resale value. In 2010, the automaker’s sales in the U.S. ebbed 0.4% to 1,763,595 vehicles while the industry sales grew 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. The company’s market share also fell 1.8 percentage points to 15.2% from 2009.
Since November 2009, Toyota has recalled more than 14 million vehicles globally in about 20 recalls, crossing all other automakers. The Transportation Department of U.S. also imposed a fine of $48.4 million due to late recall of millions of defective vehicles.
In the third quarter of fiscal 2011 ended December 31, 2010, Toyota reported a 39% fall in profit to ¥93.63 billion ($1.14 billion) or ¥29.86 (36 cents) per share from ¥153.22 billion ($1.86 billion) or ¥48.86 (59 cents) per share in the year-ago quarter. The fall in profit was attributable to lower sales in the Japan, North America and Europe as well as stronger yen.
Apart from the recall of Toyota vehicles, the recent recall of Ford Motor Co.’s (F) best selling pickup truck, F-150, in the U.S. and Canada also gave way to a lot of hustle bustle. The recall of 1.3 million units of F-150 trucks follows a request made by the NHTSA to fix a glitch with the front air bags.
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