Report: Toyota readies pedal fix for dealers involving shims

Report: Toyota readies pedal fix for dealers involving shims

Filed under: Car Buying, Recalls, Toyota



It's been over one week since Toyota first announced a recall affecting 2.3 million vehicles across eight model lines. The recall involves defective accelerator pedal mechanism that could stick due to wear and cause unintended acceration. Since then, Toyota and the supplier responsible for producing this part, CTS Corp., have already developed and begun producing a replacement for assembly plants in North America. Problem is, that doesn't help the 2.3 million owners who have recalled vehicles sitting in their driveways. Nor does it help Toyota dealers, who wouldn't be able to handle the complex job of replacing defective accelerator pedal mechanisms on so many vehicles. Finally, CTS Corp. doesn't have the capacity to make replacement parts for both the assembly plants that need them to continue operating and the millions of recalled vehicles already on the road.

Enter the humble shim. Toyota is almost done developing a simpler fix for dealers that involves "inserting a metal shim into a gap in the friction lever of the pedal," according to Automotive News. Doing so will reportedly reduce friction and prevent the pedal from sticking and causing unintended acceleration. Toyota is said to be busy testing the shim fix for durability and ease of installation as we speak.

Though the automaker has not officially acknowledged the shim solution nor when it will be ready for dealers, sources say we should expect some kind of remedy early next week.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req.| Scott Olson/Getty]Report: Toyota readies pedal fix for dealers involving shims originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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