Toyota dealers, consumers scramble on recalls (2024)

Toyota owners yesterday flooded San Diego County dealerships, which did their best to accommodate anxious customers after an off-the-cuff remark by the nation’s transportation chief stoked alarm.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood later said he misspoke when he advised millions of Toyota owners to stop driving vehicles subject to recalls over uncontrollable acceleration issues, but his comment rippled through local showrooms and service departments.

LaHood also said his department is reviewing complaints about vehicle electronics, not just the floor mats and gas pedals on which Toyota has focused.

In response to the rush of phone calls and customer visits, dealers ramped up their recall efforts — and urged customers not to panic. Many dealers spent hours on the phone in conference calls with Toyota executives, getting the latest information on when they would be receiving shipments to repair floor mats.

At Mossy Toyota in Pacific Beach, Sarah Goehring — mother of a 9-month-old girl and a 3-year-old boy — brought in her silver 2010 Highlander following LaHood’s comment. The gas pedal was fixed in about 90 minutes.

“As soon as he said it, with me being a mom, I wanted to take every precaution possible,” said Goehring of Serra Mesa. It’s not smart, she added, “to take chances when you have two little babies in the back seat.”

At Toyota Carlsbad, service and collision repair manager Rudy Romero said the company will add staff and hours as needed to keep abreast of the massive recalls.

“We want to make sure everyone is safe, everyone is comfortable and everyone knows we are behind them,” Romero said.

At Toyota of Poway, service manager Dan Diedrich said his department has been hearing from worried car owners this week and that three people have left their vehicles at the dealership, too nervous to drive them until they are repaired.

Diedrich said he has hired three mechanic technicians, bringing the total to 28, with six technicians assigned to work solely on recalled cars. Diedrich said he also has added five support staffers and a third shuttle to his service team.

“We usually see about 120 cars a day,” he said. “That could go up to 200. But I’m confident we can handle this. If we have to go extra hours, we’ll do it.”

At Kearny Mesa Toyota, which has one of the largest Toyota service departments in the nation, mechanics were preparing to work overtime starting last night to begin fixing the newer-model Camrys, Corollas, Avalons and other vehicles the automaker says may be prone to a sticky gas pedal.

“We’re going to be open as long as we have to,” general manager Brian Beeman said.

The dealership normally services about 200 cars a day. Beeman expects that to double in coming months because of the pedal repairs and a separate recall related to driver-side floor mats.

Last month, Toyota announced the recall of 2.3 million vehicles with potentially sticky pedals. Among the models affected: 2009-2010 Corollas, 2005-2010 Avalons and certain models of the 2007-2010 Camry, the nation’s best-selling sedan.

In November, Toyota had launched a separate recall of 4.2 million Toyota and Lexus models, largely spurred by the crash last summer of a Lexus ES 350 in Santee. California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor and his Chula Vista family died in the incident that investigators believe was caused when the gas pedal lodged in an ill-fitting floor mat, accelerating the car up to 150 mph.

Some dealerships had hoped to begin the floor-mat-related repairs this week, after notifying affected owners by mail and e-mail.

Escalating concerns over the pedal problem have forced the world’s largest automaker to immediately move on the latest recall. Dealerships are installing two dime-size steel plates within each pedal mechanism to eliminate friction, which Toyota says can cause a sticky pedal.

Adding to the quality crisis, Japanese authorities yesterday told the automaker to investigate reports of faulty brakes on the Prius, its popular gas-electric hybrid.

The 2010 Prius has racked up at least 140 consumer complaints to U.S. safety officials about braking and sudden acceleration, more than three times the number of complaints about all flaws in the 2009 version, according to the Detroit Free Press.

LaHood’s comment yesterday came during a congressional hearing. He said his advice to an owner of a recalled Toyota would be to “stop driving it. Take it to a Toyota dealer because they believe they have a fix for it.”

Later he told reporters, “What I said in there was obviously a misstatement. What I meant to say … was if you own one of these cars or if you’re in doubt, take it to the dealer and they’re going to fix it.”

But the damage was done.

Dale Snow, operations director at Mossy Toyota in Pacific Beach, said the remark was unfortunate.

“I think it was extremely insensitive,” Snow said. “It created unnecessary hysteria.”

Thoi and Cindy Phan of Mira Mesa said they now worry every time they drive their 2007 Camry, their only car. Thoi is convinced his accelerator has acted sticky at times.

“I think we want to sell it because we feel very uncomfortable with it,” he said.

Dealers advised car owners to make an appointment for repair, and tried to ease concerns.

“I drive one of these cars,” said service director Eric Axford at Toyota of El Cajon. “My wife drives one of these cars. They’re really safe vehicles. And Toyota is being very proactive about the situation.”

Axford’s dealership and its sister facility in Santee have hired nine additional mechanics, a 25 percent boost, to keep operations smooth while the repairs unfold.

“The goal is if the call comes in today, we’ll be able to take care of them today,” Axford said.

He said about 100 customers brought their cars to the El Cajon and Santee dealerships yesterday to fix sticky gas pedals, and the work appeared to be going smoothly.

The real test, Axford said, will start early next week, when Toyota sends out parts to deal with the mat-related recall. Those repairs, which can take up to three hours, will include reshaping the pedal and, with many models, replacing the driver-side carpet liner with thinner material.

Dealers received word yesterday that Toyota will pay for a one-day car rental, if a car owner requests it, for vehicles recalled for the gas-pedal problem. Service managers at several dealerships said Toyota could expand that coverage to include cars in the floor-mat recall.

LaHood also said the transportation department has received new complaints about electronics and would undertake a broad review, looking beyond Toyota vehicles, into whether automobile engines could be disrupted by electromagnetic interference caused by power lines or other sources. Toyota has said it investigated for electronic problems and did not find a single case pointing in that direction.