Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) today announced the vehicles to be included in its recall service campaign to correct the accelerator mechanism in these cars. The list of affected vehicles is the result of an exhaustive technical study which covered all Toyota vehicles on sale in South Africa. The affected passenger vehicle models are:
- Toyota Corolla (February 2007 to January 2010) – 45 040 vehicles
- Toyota Auris (June 2006 to January 2010) – 6 665 vehicles
- Toyota Verso (October 2008 to January 2010) – 841 vehicles
This equates to a total of 52 546 Toyota vehicles that will form part of this campaign.
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. Owners will be given the opportunity to contact their nearest Toyota dealer at their convenience and schedule a time for the repair. The action will take place as a precautionary measure, despite the fact that the problem has not surfaced to the same effect in the hot and dry climate of South Africa.
In more detail, the problem relates to the operation between the mechanism’s friction shoe that provides pedal feel and ensures pedal stability, and the adjoining surface. 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.
Repairs will start from 23 February 2010 and the corrective action should take less than an hour, but could take longer if the dealer is experiencing very high levels of service calls. TSAM will honour the full cost of the repair and 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 to all Toyota vehicle owners for the uncertainty and inconvenience that this process may have caused. We value the trust and confidence that Toyota owners have put in our brand over the past five decades and we will do everything in our power to honour that,” says Dr Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of TSAM.
As further support to the campaign, concerned customers can visit www.toyota.co.za or phone the Customer Contact Centre on 0800-139-111 for up to date information on the recall service campaign.
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 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.
