(RTTNews) - Toyota Motor Corp. (TM: News ), Wednesday, announced the details of vehicle-based remedy to address the problem of accelerator pedals becoming jammed in the floor mat in certain Toyota and Lexus models. The action was part of a huge recall of Toyota and Lexus vehicles connected to sudden acceleration, a suspected cause for some accidents.

As an interim measure, Toyota has commenced the mailing of safety notices to certain Toyota and Lexus owners on October 30.

In September-end, Toyota Motor had recalled about 3.8 million of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, after detecting a defect with the accelerator pedal.

The vehicle models identified with pedal problems include 2007 to 2010 MY Camry, 2005 to 2010 MY Avalon, 2004 to 2009 MY Prius, 2005 to 2010 MY Tacoma, 2007 to 2010 MY Tundra, 2007 to 2010 MY ES350, 2006 to 2010 MY IS250 and 2006 to 2010 MY IS 350.

Toyota noted that it will reconfigure the shape of accelerator pedal to address the risk of floor mat entrapment in the listed vehicles. For the ES350, Camry, and Avalon models, the shape of the floor surface underneath will also be reconfigured to increase the space between the accelerator pedal and the floor.

Further, the company will provide a newly-designed driver- and front passenger-side all-weather floor mats for vehicles with any genuine Toyota or Lexus accessory all-weather floor mat.
As an extra measure of confidence, Toyota will install a brake override system into certain involved vehicle models. The system will reduce engine power in case both the accelerator and brake pedals are simultaneously used by the driver. The company added that the brake override system will be made standard equipment throughout the Toyota and Lexus product lines starting with January 2010 production of ES350 and Camry.

Toyota noted that it is on the way to complete the remedial measures and will start notifying owners of the involved vehicles by the end of this year. In the initial phase, the company will look into the problems of ES350, Camry, and Avalon and the remedy process regarding the other five models will occur on a rolling schedule during 2010.

In addition, the dealers will be trained to reshape the accelerator pedal for the repair and they will be provided with the modified pedals when they become available. New replacement pedals are expected to be available for some models beginning in April and will be provided even if the vehicles have already received a modified pedal under the recall.

To receive FREE breaking news email alerts for Toyota Motor Corp and others in your portfolio

 1   2   Next Page