TOYOTA has begun a recall of hundreds of thousands of its vehicles in the UK and Europe following problems with defective accelerator pedals.

The recall crisis has also affected both Citroen and Peugeot as the Toyota Aygo, which is included within the recall, uses the same parts as the Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107. PSA Peugeot Citroen says that it is recalling around 100,000 vehicles.
Toyota initially said the problem, which causes the accelerator pedal to stick and keeps the car speeding even when a driver takes their foot off, had so far been found only in parts from a US supplier.

However, the recall has now been extended and is likely to involve as many as 8m Toyota vehicles of which 1.8m are believed to be in Europe with approximately 200,000 vehicles in the UK.

The models recalled are the:
• Aygo (manufactured between February 2005 and August 2009)
• iQ (November 2008 to November 2009)
• Yaris (November 2005 to September 2009)
• Auris (October 2006 to January 5, 2010)
• Corolla (October 2006 to December 2009)
• Verso (February 2009 to January 5, 2010)
• Avensis (November 2008 to December 2009)
• and RAV4 (November 2005 to November 2009).

Toyota said the fault was caused because the accelerator pedal mechanisms concerned may have become worn.

The first shipments of parts required for this fix will begin arriving in the UK next week and Toyota will be in a position to start repairing cars from 10 February.
The repairs will be carried out by qualified Toyota technicians, at Toyota-approved service centres. The procedure should take 30 minutes to complete.

To help provide clear and up-to-date advice and assistance to owners affected by the recall, Toyota is providing additional website and telephone helpline services.

Any customers who have concerns should contact Toyota GB Customer Relations on 0800 1388 744.

Regularly updated information is also available on a dedicated recall information page on the Toyota website at www.toyota.co.uk/recall
As Toyota announced details of the recall, the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) offered advice to drivers on what to do in event of an engineering malfunction.

Stephen Mead, IAM Assistant Chief Examiner, said: “Keep calm – surprisingly the perception of the average driver with a stuck accelerator is that they can’t brake either, but this is a misconception brought on by panic.

“Press the brake firmly, then the clutch, disengaging the power. In an automatic, drivers should brake, wait for a reaction from the vehicle and then put the car into neutral. You can still steer, too, so a stuck accelerator isn’t actually the disaster it sounds.

“Look for somewhere to stop safely, indicate and make the manoeuvre as you would under normal circumstances. There will be loud revving in the background and you will probably be in a state of shock, but if you remain calm you can avoid serious danger,” he said.

Mycompanyfleet’s FleetHR and FleetAcumen software solutions are designed to help fleet managers manage all the vehicles on their fleet, to keep up to date vehicle and driver records and locations.

Mycompanyfleet business manager Andrew Leech said: “Unfortunate as the Toyota situation is, fleet managers can mitigate the affect of any manufacturer recall by maintaining the proper fleet records online.

“We have designed our fleet management systems to allow fleet managers to keep a constant and up to date record of the whereabouts of their vehicles and their drivers,” he said.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 4:22 pm and is filed under Industry news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.