Toyota was racing to find its own solution on Wednesday, as it tried to resolve its accelerator pedal problem and minimize the damage to its reputation for safe vehicles. The pedal flaw has created an opening for competing car companies like G.M.
Analysts expected Honda, Hyundai and Ford to benefit most. Edmunds.com posted a photo of a Honda dealership near Dallas that programmed its digital sign by the street to read, “Our gas pedals don’t stick!”
“I think there’s got to be instant worry for all Toyota owners,” David Thomas, senior editor of Cars.com, said. “It’s that mental image of a runaway car. There can’t be a worse association for any automaker to have.”
The car-rental company Avis, which also operates Budget, said it was removing 20,000 Toyotas from its fleet. Hertz, Enterprise, National and Alamo also said they would temporarily stop renting Toyotas.
The Indiana-based supplier that made the questionable pedals at a factory in Canada said it had started shipping replacements to Toyota plants. But it was unclear how quickly the parts would be ready for installation on the assembly lines and at dealerships for owners of millions of affected vehicles.
Federal regulators said Wednesday that Toyota was legally required to stop selling the eight models covered by last week’s recall. But the company took five days to announce the stoppages.
Such a drastic step raised concerns among many owners of those vehicles, even though Toyota insisted they were safe and that the problem was rare.
Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/business/28sales.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1264656014-8mJVFJQeuGZF5cGkE1s+Vw
Analysts expected Honda, Hyundai and Ford to benefit most. Edmunds.com posted a photo of a Honda dealership near Dallas that programmed its digital sign by the street to read, “Our gas pedals don’t stick!”
“I think there’s got to be instant worry for all Toyota owners,” David Thomas, senior editor of Cars.com, said. “It’s that mental image of a runaway car. There can’t be a worse association for any automaker to have.”
The car-rental company Avis, which also operates Budget, said it was removing 20,000 Toyotas from its fleet. Hertz, Enterprise, National and Alamo also said they would temporarily stop renting Toyotas.
The Indiana-based supplier that made the questionable pedals at a factory in Canada said it had started shipping replacements to Toyota plants. But it was unclear how quickly the parts would be ready for installation on the assembly lines and at dealerships for owners of millions of affected vehicles.
Federal regulators said Wednesday that Toyota was legally required to stop selling the eight models covered by last week’s recall. But the company took five days to announce the stoppages.
Such a drastic step raised concerns among many owners of those vehicles, even though Toyota insisted they were safe and that the problem was rare.
Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/business/28sales.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1264656014-8mJVFJQeuGZF5cGkE1s+Vw
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