Recall Expanded
National News
by
Michelle Franzen
last edited on
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The number one car maker in the U.S. Is facing an uphill battle fixing faulty gas pedals in millions of vehicles in the showroom and on the roads. Toyota is trying to shore up safety concerns and keep competitors like General Motors from moving in on its customers.
"I was wondering about these recalls for Toyota. I bought my Toyota from Lancaster back in 2007," said one customer.
The calls keep coming at Toyota dealerships across the country. Frustrated and confused customers wanting to know what to do with their recalled vehicle.
Dealers are on the front lines after Toyota put the breaks on the production and sales for eight models and recalled the same models already sold to fix potentially faulty accelerator pedals.
"Once we were notified, anything that we were going to deliver last night, we did not," said car dealer Joe St. Marie.
And news Toyota expanded the recall to include vehicles manufactured in Europe is not helping shore up safety concerns. But while Toyota battles to keep its reputation of quality and reliability intact, competitors see Toyota's struggles as an opportunity to seize market share.
General Motors is going after Toyota customers offering incentives and free-interest for customers trading in their recalled vehicle. But industry analysts say G.M. is taking a risk.
"This could backfire if they have a quality issue in the future, especially while they are in this phase and rebound as a new brand," said Jessica Caldwell of Edmunds.com.
Ford is taking a softer approach and has not launched a direct campaign against Toyota. But the company's CEO says he would welcome customers.
"The commitment we made is to be best in class. This is another opportunity for our product to be considered by consumers. We're gonna continue to monitor the market and adjust accordingly," said Ford CEO Alan Mulally.
Toyota says it hopes to have a fix within a matter of weeks. Trying to ease concerns of customers and keep the competition at bay.
Ford had some good news Thursday. For the first time in four years, Ford posted a profit in the fourth quarter of 2009.