Blainville, Quebec — Toyota is multiplying efforts to restore its reputation as a quality brand. After announcing one of the largest auto recalls in history, mainly to fix a questionable throttle mechanism, the Japanese automaker now needs to regain the trust of consumers.
"We have to work on reassuring consumers, especially people who do not own a Toyota. According to our dealers, our customers are perfectly reassured," says Jean-Pierre Gagnon, Toyota Canada’s Regional Sales Manager for Quebec, who expects February sales to be similar to those of 2009. "Obviously, the big season for sales is approaching. We will be able to make a better assessment at that time".
Toyota Canada executives recently invited the media to a short presentation followed by a demo on the track — first in Toronto (on Tuesday) and then near Montreal (on Friday).
The solution: tiny reinforcement bars!
Since the beginning of the month, Toyota dealers have been busy modifying the gas pedal mechanism in eight Toyota models.
"A total of 272,000 vehicles are involved in this recall across Canada. So far, 33 percent have been fixed," confirms Mr. Gagnon.
Toyota engineers have developed a simple yet effective solution to eliminate the excess friction in the throttle assembly, which might have caused the pedal to stick.
In Canada, Toyota reportedly received only five complaints about potentially faulty throttles. What’s more, Mr. Gagnon argues that most affected vehicles have a high mileage, including one with close to 170,000 kilometres on the odometer.
Engineers also inspected a number of vehicles deemed "at risk", like taxis with over 350,000 kilometres on the clock. However, they found nothing.
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| Here’s the throttle assembly with the various reinforcement bars that reportedly fix the problem of sticking pedals. (Photo: Matthieu Lambert/Auto123.com) |
"We have to work on reassuring consumers, especially people who do not own a Toyota. According to our dealers, our customers are perfectly reassured," says Jean-Pierre Gagnon, Toyota Canada’s Regional Sales Manager for Quebec, who expects February sales to be similar to those of 2009. "Obviously, the big season for sales is approaching. We will be able to make a better assessment at that time".
Toyota Canada executives recently invited the media to a short presentation followed by a demo on the track — first in Toronto (on Tuesday) and then near Montreal (on Friday).
The solution: tiny reinforcement bars!
Since the beginning of the month, Toyota dealers have been busy modifying the gas pedal mechanism in eight Toyota models.
"A total of 272,000 vehicles are involved in this recall across Canada. So far, 33 percent have been fixed," confirms Mr. Gagnon.
Toyota engineers have developed a simple yet effective solution to eliminate the excess friction in the throttle assembly, which might have caused the pedal to stick.
In Canada, Toyota reportedly received only five complaints about potentially faulty throttles. What’s more, Mr. Gagnon argues that most affected vehicles have a high mileage, including one with close to 170,000 kilometres on the odometer.
Engineers also inspected a number of vehicles deemed "at risk", like taxis with over 350,000 kilometres on the clock. However, they found nothing.
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| On the left is an all-season floor mat sold by Toyota and custom-fitted to each vehicle. On the right is a universal floor mat sold in various department stores. Clearly not the same thing! (Photo: Matthieu Lambert/Auto123.com) |