The fix is a simple sliver of metal, but without it Toyota fears its 2009 and 2010 customers could be at risk, including as many as 800 in Thunder Bay.
The world’s largest automaker has been forced to recall about 2.3 million vehicles thanks to a rare, but potential deadly sticky accelerator situation that could cause the gas pedal to remain engaged even when drivers let up their foot.
The recall comes on the heels of another recall last November, affecting about 2.5 million owners, some of whose floor mats were interfering with their accelerators.
Locally, Wayne Toyota CEO Wayne Marostica said starting next week he’s extending hours at his service shop, an attempt to make the half-hour repair as expeditiously as possible for anxious customers.
"We’re bringing all our customers in and we’re fixing the gas pedal situation," Marostica said on Friday afternoon. "It’s free of charge."
The dealership has already begun contacting car buyers to set up appointments and the first repairs have already been completed.
That suits Marostica just fine.
"Our main concern is to take care of our existing customers and make sure we do this campaign as quickly as possible," he said. "To that extent, we would like to apologize to all of our existing customers who may have been experiencing anxiety or stress because of the situation."
Because they’re expecting so many recalled vehicles to hit the service line in the next couple of weeks, Marostica said they will do what they can to get to everyone quickly. Should an appointment not immediately be available, Marostica promised they will book one at the earliest available time and perform an inspection to ensure a driver isn’t putting themselves at risk by getting behind the wheel.
Marostica also wanted to assure new and existing customers that there are no dangers associated with buying a Toyota.
"Any car that is delivered as of six o’clock last night will have the modification completed," Marostica said, adding he hasn’t seen a loss of confidence in the Toyota brand, at least not yet, especially from existing customers.
"They know that Toyota has a long history of quality vehicles and in situations where there have been cause for recalls in the past, Toyota has fixed the problems. We’re very confident and the customers are very confident that this situation will be rectified.
Kelvin Huotari, an automotive technician at the dealership, said the parent company has provided precise instructions as to how to correct the problem and it seems to have worked to a tee.
"It makes the contact area not as tight, to avoid any chances of it binding," Huotari said. "Basically we just install that shim, reinstall the pedal back into the car, do a data list check on the actual voltages here and make sure everything looks OK."