Toyota Readies Dealer Fix for Faulty Accelerator Pedals
TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp. is fine-tuning a dealer remedy for faulty accelerator pedals in 2.3 million recalled vehicles and aims to announce the fix as early as next week, a person familiar with the matter told Automotive News.
The procedure involves inserting a metal shim into a gap in the friction lever of the pedal. Doing so will reduce friction and prevent the pedal from sticking, the person said.
Among the last-minute tweaks are testing for durability and ensuring that the remedy is something that dealers can easily employ.
Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said the automaker hasn't yet decided on a final dealer remedy and is still unclear on a timeline for rolling it out.
Toyota is taking a two-pronged approach. It has to develop a remedy for the cars already on the road that the dealers can implement. It also has to develop a new part that can go into cars on the assembly line. The solution is likely to be different for each set of vehicles.
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