Report: Owners Should Keep Driving Cars Despite Safety Issue Says Toyota
What should you do if you drive a Toyota affected by the Japanese automakers latest massive recall? Toyota’s answer… just keep driving it.
At least that’s the opinion of Toyota USA spokesman John Hanson, a day after Toyota said it would not only stop selling the affected models, but that it would stop producing them.
Toyota now, reportedly, has a new replacement part that will fix the problem of accelerator pedals that can become stuck. Toyota has yet to acknowledge this publicly, however, and insists that once a “fix” has been determined it will notify owners.
According to an internal memo obtained by Edmunds.com, “Over time, some accelerator pedal mechanisms may become worn. As a result of this wear combined with certain operating and environmental conditions, friction in the mechanism may increase and intermittently result in the accelerator pedal being hard to depress, slow to return or, in the worst case, stick in a partially open position.”
Those worried about driving one of the eight recalled vehicles (including the Camry, Corolla, RAV4, Matrix, Avalon, Highlander, Tundra and Sequoia) should know that the best way to stop a car with a sticking gas pedal is to apply the brakes and put the transmission into neutral. Then, once the vehicle is stopped, turn off the engine.
Follow the link below for a great safety video from Consumer Reports.
[Source: ABC]
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I own a 2009 Corolla S & I've had no issues at all. I will continue to drive it a sI have been doing. It amazes me that so many licensed drivers have no idea what to do if a car should suddenly accelerate. How hard is it to put a car in neutral & brake to a stop. This has been an issues on many different cars over the years. The chances of it happening are remote at best, but knowing what to do is the most important thing. I'm more worried about some idiot hitting me because they don't know how to drive & control a car in most emergency situations.
It always amazes me how the media always has a "the sky is falling" attitude about something this simple and so extremely rare . All that it does is scare the heck out of people who believe all that they hear and read. And in addition to not reporting the whole story ,the media speculate on what might be causing the problem. I have three Toyotas in my family and have owned many more and have been well satisfied with all and know that Toyota will take care of their customers.