Local Toyota dealers to start recalling cars

BRIAN BENZA
Staff Writer | Friday February 12, 2010 00:00

In a statement TSAM said that it has finally identified cars from its plant which have been affected by the faulty accelerator problem, with 50,000 vehicles affected in South Africa, while another 60,000 were exported to other African countries and Europe.

The affected passenger vehicle models include Toyota Corolla (February 2007 to January 2010), Toyota Auris (June 2006 to January 2010), Toyota Verso (October 2008 to January 2010).

Motor Centre Service manager Lee Ruis said they were still waiting for confirmation from TSAM on the exact number of cars they will need to recall and fix.

'Yes, they have confirmed that some cars we bought from them could have the faulty accelerator problem but we are still waiting for the full list before we start asking customers to come and have their cars checked,' he said.

Motor Centre Botswana is the biggest Toyota cars dealer in the country and get the bulk of its stock from TSAM.TSAM Spokesperson  Leo Kok, told Business Week  that since 2006 they have sold Toyota Auris (49), Toyota Corolla (1,469), Toyota Verso(21) to Botswana, although not all vehicles might be affected. The company sold over 2,779 Toyota vehicles in Botswana last year alone.

'Toyota will start contacting customers of the affected vehicles immediately. 'All Toyota dealers in South Africa and the countries that TSAM serve will be involved. These include Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland.' said TSAM motors CEO Dr Johan van Zyl.

The corrective action will take the form of a small precision-cut steel plate that will be placed in the assembly to alleviate the friction between the friction shoe and adjoining surface. This will prevent the problem from surfacing in vehicles equipped with this steel bar for the life of the vehicle.

'Toyota South Africa Motors and its nationwide dealer network will immediately start contacting owners of the identified vehicles to inform them of the recall service action.

' Owners will be given the opportunity to contact their nearest Toyota dealer at their convenience and schedule a time for the insertion of the steel bar. Repairs will start from 23 February 2010,' said the statement from TSAM.  

TSAM say the corrective action should take less than an hour, but could take longer if the dealer is experiencing very high levels of service calls, adding that the full cost of the corrective process will be borne by Toyota and that no owner will be required to pay, regardless of the state of his or her service plan, warranty or the ownership status of the vehicle.

'We would like to apologise in advance to our customers for the inconvenience this campaign might cause them. We believe the action of fitting the accelerator pedal component with a safeguard mechanism is in line with our commitment to customer safety and satisfaction and we trust that our customers will continue to experience the trouble free motoring they have come to expect from Toyota,' says Dr Van Zyl.

In an unrelated service action TSAM has decided to recall all new generation Prius models (August 2009 to February 2010) for a software upgrade to the electronic brake system. This action involves 216 vehicles. This upgrade will address the delayed brake feel on slippery surfaces that has been experienced elsewhere in the world.

Given the small volume of new generation vehicles affected, Toyota says it is already in the process of contacting each Prius owner to inform them of this upgrade and schedule a convenient appointment time at their closest Prius dealer.