How Does Toyota Handle Car Show Season?
We Went to the Chicago Auto Show to Find Out
2010-02-11
By Dudley M. Brooks

I’m sure that Bob Carter, Group Vice-President and General Manager of the Toyota Division, Toyota Motor Sales USA, knew he was going to get slammed up against the wall during his Wednesday appearance at the Chicago Auto Show.  Considering all of the troubles the company has had recently, he wasn’t far off base.  It actually turned out to be a less dramatic and post-presentation pinning by a couple of dozen media folks, against the side of the new Avalon he finally got around to introducing.

Carter came out swinging by first offering an impassioned and well-deserved commitment by Toyota to get to the bottom of their faulty (and sometimes fatal) acceleration pedal issues.  “Nothing is more important to Toyota than the safety and reliability of our vehicles.  And right now we’re completely focused on fixing the vehicles that have been affected under this recall.”   He also announced a new voluntary recall of the 2010 Prius and the Lexis HS 250H models to upgrade software responsible for an inconsistent feel by some owners in their anti-lock braking system on rough road surfaces.  He said the company instituted a production change to improve the response time in the system last month with the Prius, within the cars still on the assembly line, and have plans to attack the same issue in the Lexis model next month.  The recall will allow dealers to update the system within those cars already on the road.  You should look for a mailing from your dealer within the next two weeks if you drive one of these. 

In regards to the acceleration pedal, he said the company identified the problem (yet again) and that the repair should take no more than 30 minutes, depending on the dealers repair schedule for any given day.  This still sounds like an afternoon at the shop to me.  “The solution, frankly, is very effective, simple and lasts the life of the vehicle.  All Toyota dealers nationally have received the parts, the tools and the training they need and have already begun repairing the vehicles.”   Toyota feels they have complete confidence in this remedy and that the most important thing is to fix all of the cars on the road trouble free.  Carter insures that the company is completely focused on that mission, 24-7.  When asked whether the problem was due to faulty electronics, like many have speculated, he said absolutely not.

I suppose that when you’re introducing a new product (like people who attend this event expect), you’d better make sure that the older ones are in tact.  Bottom line is people want their cars fixed – the first time.  Stay tuned.  I’m still not sure this is over.