Toyota recalls 570 local cars for pedal inspection

Over 500 new generation Toyota Corollas sold in Kenya have been recalled by the vehicle dealer for a special service to inspect the acceleration pedal mechanism.

Although Toyota East Africa was hard pressed to distinguish between the action and the recalls that have hit the vehicle manufacturer globally over the last two weeks, it said some of the recalled vehicles could have a mechanism problem that needs to be addressed.

The vehicles in question were produced between November 2007 and January 2010.

Toyota East Africa’s managing director, Hylton Bannon, said that some of these vehicles may have accelerator pedals that may hang in a depressed position or return slowly to the idle position.

Vehicles that were recalled in North America and Europe had a problem of acceleration pedals getting stuck on the floor mat.

“We have sold 570 new generation Corollas out of which we expect that some may need correction. We have started carrying out a special service campaign,” he said.

Corrective action

Mr Bannon said that the condition was rare and that to date none of the 570 customers had complained about it to the company.

He stressed that the recall had nothing to with the floor mat problem that had arisen in the other markets.

The condition is said to occur over time when the pedals mechanism wears off.

Kenya sources these vehicles from South Africa.

Toyota said the problem was linked to one supplier of the accelerator pedals and is only found in this model and not other Toyota products.

The dealer is already contacting owners of the new generation Toyota Corolla vehicles and has started carrying out the service campaign.

The corrective action is expected to take at least 30 minutes at no charge to the customer.

People who have sourced similar models from the second-hand market and from the affected regions will be assisted by the local branch to find out if their vehicles have a problem.

The move comes only days after the dealer declared that no vehicle in the Kenyan market was affected by the ongoing global recalls as vehicles for the local market are sourced from Japan and South Africa.

Market share

Toyota has recalled millions of vehicles in various markets due to faulty accelerators that cause sudden and unexpected acceleration.

Toyota is the fastest-selling brand in the Kenyan market both in the new vehicle and second-hand segments.

Last year, it managed to increase its market share to 24 per cent out of the 10,250 units sold in the new market compared to 23 per cent of 13,135 units sold the previous year.

Mr Bannon said that this new problem is not expected to have an effect on its sales in this market as it remains a strong brand.