February 12, 2010
How the Toyota recalls will affect your business
By: Bob Ulrich
First it was floor mats. Then accelerator pedals. Now brakes and power steering hoses. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. is starting the year off on a bad note.
By now, everyone knows about Toyota’s troubles. It has voluntarily recalled close to 5.6 million vehicles because of numerous problems. Here’s a quick recap.
1. “Pedal entrapment” caused the recall of some 4.9 million vehicles. “This condition can occur in vehicles in which the driver’s side floor mat is not compatible with the vehicle and/or is not properly secured,” says the company. The fix: New floor mats. In the future, the company will reconfigure the shape of the accelerator pedal. For the Lexus ES350, Toyota Camry and Toyota Avalon models involved, the shape of the floor surface underneath also will be reconfigured to increase the space between the accelerator pedal and the floor.
2. “Sticking accelerator pedals” caused the recall of 2.3 million vehicles. Toyota said that the pedals, “in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position.” The fix: pedal reinforcement bars – not shims, as has been reported -- will be installed into the accelerator pedal assembly, “thereby eliminating the excess friction that has caused pedals to stick in rare instances.”
(Although the numbers above indicate Toyota appears to be recalling 7.2 million vehicles for these two problems, 1.7 million of them were recalled for both problems.)
3. “Inconsistent brake feel” has resulted in the recall of 133,000 new Prius and 14,500 new Lexus HS 250h vehicles. Some owners of the 2010 model year vehicles reported feeling the inconsistency during slow and steady application of brakes on rough or slick road surfaces when the anti-lock braking system was activated. The fix: update vehicle software in the ABS.
In addition, some 7,300 early production 2010 model-year Camrys with 4-cylinder engines are being recalled “to inspect for a power steering hose that may be in contact with a front brake tube. This contact could lead to a hole in the brake tube and cause a brake fluid leak, increased brake pedal stroke and greater vehicle stopping distance.”
Unfortunately, a Toyota spokesman tells me that to the best of his knowledge, all the repairs have to be made at Toyota franchised dealerships, so none of the work will go to independent tire dealers. And, because the car dealerships will inspect the vehicles while they are in, you may lose some business.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that Toyota sales will suffer because of not only the bad publicity (even Consumer Reports suspended its recommendations for recalled Toyotas) but also the hit the company’s reputation of quality is taking. As Toyota says in its ads, the company “hasn’t been living up to the standards you expect from us and we expect from ourselves.”
That means tire manufacturers supplying Toyota will have overruns that may eventually find their way downstream.
Maybe they will be made available to you. If not, maybe they will hurt your replacement tire pricing.
To give you an idea of who Toyota’s largest supplies are in the United States, here is the original equipment consumer tire brand share at Toyota for the U.S. and Canada in 2009:
Bridgestone 29% Michelin 25% Goodyear 23% Firestone 10%
Continental 5% BFGoodrich 5% Dunlop 3% Toyo 2%
If Toyota fixes the problem quickly (on “Late Night with David Letterman” on Feb. 11, Letterman suggested square tires will solve the acceleration pedal problems), then there will be less of an effect on the tire industry in general, and tire dealers specifically. But there will be an effect.
For answers to frequently asked questions about the pedal problems, including the affected vehicles, visit www.toyota.com.
Sign up for our Enews and receive the latest news, trends, and product information right in your e-mail inbox.