Toyota Halts Production of Recalled Vehicles

27th January 2010

On the heels of the latest recall of 2.3 million additional vehicles a few days ago, Toyota announced today that it is suspending sales and production of 8 models whose accelerator pedals are the subject of the latest recall. Toyota does not yet have a fix for the problem, so it is taking this step to prevent any more of the vehicles from getting into customers’ hands (and feet) until the problem is corrected.

“Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company,” said Group Vice President and Toyota Division General Manager Bob Carter. “This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized. We’re making every effort to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible.”

Toyota’s accelerator pedal recall and suspension of sales is confined to the following Toyota Division vehicles: 2009-2010 RAV4, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2005-2010 Avalon, certain 2007-2010 Camry, 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra and 2008-2010 Sequoia.

No Lexus Division or Scion vehicles or other Toyota division models are affected by these actions.

Obviously, if sales are being halted until a resolution is finalized, Toyota wants to stop production of the affected models. Therefore, the following plants in North America are also going to be shut down the week of February 1 to avoid making more units with the problem. Why not halt production right now? Because production schedules are set far in advance and it is very difficult to stop in the middle of a week. In an emergency, they of course could and would stop production. This isn’t an emergency though. The affected plants are Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Canada (Corolla, Matrix, and RAV4), Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana (Sequoia and Highlander), Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky – Line 1 (Camry and Avalon), Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (Camry), Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (Tundra). Shutting down this many facilities will force the shut down of many supplier plants. Toyota did not indicate whether their workers would go on temporary layoff, but Toyota typically does not lay off workers. It will likely reassign the workers to maintenance work and/or training during that week. Workers at Toyota’s many supplier companies will not likely be so lucky.

I keep saying it, but it bears repeating. Toyota has built its entire reputation on its quality. With all of the quality lapses recently, it is only a matter of time until sales start to reflect the damaged reputation. The question is not “if” but “when” and “how much” the sales will be hurt.