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With Toyota stopping sales for recall, is yours safe to drive?

With Toyota's stunning decision yesterday to stop sales of eight models, is it safe to drive your car?

That's something a lot of Toyoa drivers should be asking themselves today. If thousands of cars , including bestsellers Corolla and Camry, can't be sold because of fears the accelerator could stick, then why is it safe to keep driving millions of cars on the road that also could become runaways?

So far, Toyota is standing pat, saying it's just fine to keep driving your Toyota -- even if under recall -- as long as it's not experiencing telltale signs that it could be susceptible to a sticking accelerator. Of course, just a couple days ago Toyota was insisting that it was just fine to sell new cars that were subject to a recall. Look how fast that message changed:

"As part of the recall, we are obliged to suspend sales until there is a remedy...but the advice for customers remains the same," Toyota spokesman Mike Michels tells Drive On. While Toyota's recall was voluntary, Toyota says it's following government protocols that require it to stop selling cars unless it has an immediate remedy, and it doesn't. It can fix the part that can wear and cause unintended acceleration in all the cars right away.

If you own a Toyota that's under recall, pay careful attention to whether the accelerator pedal action seems rough or is sluggish in returning to the idle position, he says.

Only then, if you experience this, "they should not operate the vehicle anymore ," Michels says. He insists that "recalls happen all the time where owners continue to drive their cars." Click here to read the rest of the story on usatoday's website.

Toyota Recall:

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Maybe...

I guessing that they have stopped sales because they now know there is a possible problem and they can not sell a car once they acknowledge that there is a known possible problem or they are lible.   Since they don't know for sure if there is a problem or what it is yet (no recalls yet), they believe it is safe to continue to drive your already purchased vechiles.  The incidents are not that high considering how many cars they have sold. If I remember correctly, only 102 (or 120)  incidents have occurred in the over 2 million vehicles in the proposed recall.  I would love to see the individual incident report showing which cars, which years and what exactly happened in each. 

My daughter is driving a 2009 Matrix.  A model that is listed in the proposed recall.  We just told her to pay attention to the gas pedal.  If it starts to feel sticky..don't drive it.  It was said before that it's usually older cars with more mileage that could have this happen.   Toyota isn't even sure what is causing it at this point.   They could replace the accelerator only to find out, that's not the cause.  I want them to find the problem, be sure of which cars a affected and then take care of it.  It seems that the older cars (2005-2007) were the most involved and that they are proposing to recall the 2009-2010 because they use the same accelerator..but then, what if it's NOT the accelerator? 

For now, we have instructed our daughter to do as Toyota is saying.  Should it happen, put both feet firmly on the brake and do not pump it.  Then put the car in neutral and find your way to the side of the road and if that doesn't work, turn the key to accessory position to shut down the engine (do NOT turn the engine  to off or remove the key or the steering and brakes will not work).   Also, check her gas pedal often.   http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota/toyota-consumer-safety-advisory-102572.aspx

  • By Toobusy at Jan 27 2010 - 9:04pm
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