Toyota recalls 437,000 Prius, other hybrid cars
Toyota Motor Corp. will recall 437,000 Prius and other hybrid cars globally to fix faulty braking systems on four models, adding to almost 8 million vehicles the company is repairing for separate defects.
The worlds biggest carmaker will halt sales of Lexus HS250h sedans, as well as the Prius plug-in and SAI models sold only in Japan, President Akio Toyoda said today at a Tokyo press conference.
The action threatens to further tarnish Toyota’s reputation as a leader in gasoline-electric hybrids, a technology it plans to offer on all models. Toyota, grappling with its worst recall crisis, has lost about $31 billion in market value since Jan. 21, when it began taking back millions of vehicles for defects linked to unintended acceleration.
The Prius, which starts at $22,800, is a high-profile model for the automaker, the cornerstone of a planned line of hybrids. Its a popular environmental car for celebrities, such as actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz.
Toyota has recalled almost 8 million vehicles on five continents to repair defects that have been linked to unintended acceleration. Those recalls may cut demand for the companys vehicles by 100,000 units, Toyota said last week.
Jay Vanderstyne, president of Vanderstyne Toyota in Greece, said yesterday that his dealership had received no word of a Prius recall and that drivers of the hybrid weren’t flooding his office seeking information.
But he did say that the recent recall of eight Toyota brands, including the popular Camry and Corolla models, had stirred a media- and Internet-driven storm that was more about press coverage than driver angst.
“I never saw a firestorm like that,” Vanderstyne said. “It was really unprecedented.”
He and other local Toyota dealers now have the part needed to fix the potentially sticking floor pedal and were making repairs quickly.
“A lot of our customers had read the stories and knew that their car was involved,” Vanderstyne said. “We’ve made the appointments and are doing the repairs. People either wait or we’ll shuttle them to their jobs while we do the work.”
He said Toyota’s reputation generates a lot of customer loyalty, and that owners were more supportive of the brand and the dealers than news reports have recognized.
“We had lots of people in here Saturday for repairs and some brought in doughnuts for the service guys,” Vanderstyne said.
But the pace of the recall — Toyota suspended production of the affected brands on Jan. 26 and the repair pieces didn’t begin to arrive at dealers until late last week — has moved some Toyota owners to take their business elsewhere.
“We did six Toyota trade-ins on Saturday, and one was a Prius,” said Mitch Ide, owner of Dick Ide Honda in Penfield. “They were just nervous about the vehicles.”
Ide said his dealership had taken the high road on Toyota’s woes. “Other dealers have taken out ads and that sort of thing but we haven’t,” Ide said. “We’ve had a very good January. In fact, we’ve had good sales going back to November.”
Toyota was beginning to recover from the recall trouble, George Cook, executive professor of marketing at the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business, said before today’s recall. But the company’s failure to be candid and open at the start worsened the situation, he said.
“The company finally has gotten in front of the problem. Toyota will be OK going forward if it continues to do that,” Cook said. “If they don’t, and it goes on for another 60 to 90 days, that will hurt them over the long term.”
TTOBIN@DemocratandChronicle.com
Includes reporting by Bloomsburg News Service.
What’s at stake
Toyota, along with Honda and Chevrolet, are the three best-selling brands in the Rochester area. Toyota’s ability to retain that lofty position may depend on how it handles its recall situations going forward.
