Recall beckons for one in ten Finnish Toyota owners

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Roughly one in ten of the many Finns who own and drive a Toyota will be receiving a message from the local Toyota service arm in the next few weeks as part of the recall programme over problems with the accelerator pedal on several models.
      Toyota Motor Finland reported on Wednesday that it would be sending nearly 36,000 owners a request to bring their vehicles in for repairs.
      In practice a small metal plate is attached to the accelerator pedal mechanism, and this will remove the risk of the pedal becoming stuck in the down position.
     
The precise details of the date for the repairs will become clear when the necessary spare parts have been delivered to Europe, said spokesman Veikko Kuvaja of Toyota Motor Finland.
      He stressed that this is merely a precautionary safety measure.
      Faults in the gas pedal on Toyota models have been found in only 20-30 vehicles manufactured worldwide, and no cars with this defect have been encountered in Europe.
     
According to the vehicle registration authorities, there were slightly more than 351,000 Toyota cars on the register in Finland at the end of 2009.
      A few dozen enquiries over the accelerator pedal problem have thus far been received by Toyota's service point in Helsinki's Itäkeskus.
      Before any formal recall notification drops through the letterbox, any Toyota owners who have noticed any stickiness in the operation of the gas pedal are recommended to contact an authorised Toyota repair shop immediately.
     
The recall in Finland will affect AYGO, iQ, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Verso, Avensis, and RAV4 models from specific years.
      Inspection and repair will take roughly half an hour in each case.


Links:
  Toyota Motor Finland (in Finnish, lists models and years for recall)

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