Toyota may lengthen warranties to keep customers
The company has not decided exactly what it will do after it gets past the recalls, which include more than 8 million vehicles worldwide, for sticky gas pedals, floor mats that can snag the accelerator and a software glitch in the brakes of its Prius gas-electric hybrid, said Group Vice President Bob Carter.
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Carter told reporters at the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention in Orlando, Fla., that it is focused on repairing customer cars and restoring their faith in the brand, which has had a reputation for bulletproof reliability for years.
“We’ll be very confident that we will give our dealers a very good competitive program,” said Don Esmond,
Dealers, Carter said, have fixed more than 500,000 of the 2.3 million cars and trucks covered by the sticky gas pedal recall, and they are repairing about 50,000 cars every day.
He also said the company has only 13 reports of sticking pedals in the U.S. and Canada out of the 2.3 million cars and trucks involved in the pedal recall.
“This is a very, very, very rare occurrence,” he said. “Please help us put some perspective on what’s happening. Thirteen is too many, we’ve got to take care of this,” he said.
About 300 dealers met with Carter and Esmond Monday to talk about their business. Several said afterward that customers have the mistaken impression they are not selling cars because of publicity about
But dealers are free to sell the cars once they are repaired. Carter says 88,000 of the 112,000 recalled cars on dealer lots have been repaired. He said the dealers have made customer repairs first, but have fixed their own cars during hours when customers are not seeking repairs.
Some of the 1,452
But dealers who spoke after meeting said they were happy with the speed at which
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Esmond said he apologized to dealers for the recalls.
“We’re a quality brand and we stumbled. It’s our fault,” he said. “We’ll correct it.”
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Carter said
Industry analysts such as Kelley Blue Book have done research showing that
Ford, Chevrolet, Hyundai and Honda have made the biggest gains with those customers, Kelley Blue Book said.
John Krafcik, CEO of