In addition to recalling millions of vehicles for floor mat / gas pedal interference and sticky throttles, Toyota announced today that it has halted sales of 8 members of its lineup. Dealerships have been ordered to stop selling the following models:
2009–2010 RAV4
2009–2010 Corolla
2009–2010 Matrix
2005–2010 Avalon
2007–2010 Camrys (certain variations)
2010 Highlander
2007–2010 Tundra
2008–2010 Sequoia
Toyota has not developed a final solution for the problems, and has decided not to sell recalled vehicles. Additionally, Toyota will suspend production of additional vehicles with the same problem, until they reach a decision on how to solve this. A total of 2.3 million Toyotas have been recalled for sticky accelerators, and another 3.8 million have been recalled for interference between the floor mat and gas pedal. Car and Driver notes that about 1.7 million vehicles fall into both categories.
I’m not sure how this can be anything but devastating for Toyota. Their image of quality and reliability is forever tainted. The fact that they have stopped sales of 8 different vehicles is going to scare lots of people away for a long time. General Motors is already trying to attract such people to the showrooms of their own dealerships. It seems that many of the auto makers infamous for bad quality have made great improvements in the last decade or so, but this is a huge step backwards for Toyota.
[Car and Driver]
[Image: Toyota]
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