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Toyota dealerships offer additional aid to owners
Mar 05, 2010 (The Citizens' Voice - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Toyota will provide additional aid to owners of recalled vehicles in Pennsylvania as part of an agreement with the state Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection, Attorney General Tom Corbett announced.
Among the new aid, Toyota will provide the owners with alternative transportation for a reasonable amount of time, including rental cars, loaned vehicles, shuttle services or taxi reimbursement.
Toyota and Lexus dealers also will make arrangements to transport recalled vehicles to dealerships for repairs. Services will be provided at no additional cost to the vehicle owners or dealers.
The agreement requires Toyota to expedite the scheduling of all safety repairs. It also directs the company to ensure all dealers and call centers provide timely and accurate information to owners who have concerns about the safety of driving their vehicles while awaiting repairs.
"It is important that Toyota and Lexus owners in Pennsylvania get clear and detailed information about the safety of their vehicles, along with the quick scheduling of necessary repairs," Corbett said. "Additionally, motorists who have serious concerns about the safety of operating their vehicles should not be penalized or stranded while waiting for problems to be corrected."
Since October, Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide to fix floor mats that can snag gas pedals or to fix faulty gas pedal assemblies that can stick. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 52 people have been killed in crashes linked to Toyota's acceleration problems.
The agreement with Toyota applies to the Pennsylvania owners of vehicles involved in several safety recalls, including a January 2010 recall involving sticking accelerator pedals, a February 2010 recall concerning anti-lock braking software for hybrid vehicles, a February 2010 recall for drive shaft repairs on Tacoma 4WD trucks and a September 2009 recall involving floor mat pedal entrapment.
As part of the agreement, Toyota will promptly meet with the state attorney general if any additional or similar safety recalls are issued in the future to discuss ways that affected vehicle owners can be assisted.
"We want to know if there are problems," said Nils Frederiksen, spokesman for the attorney general's office. "Toyota has said they are willing to do certain things and has pledged to do certain things. We want to know if someone is not living up to their side of the bargain. There is no way Pennsylvania consumers should be penalized for this."
Vehicle owners with questions or concerns related to the recalls can call the Toyota Customer Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331 or the Lexus Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-255-3987.
Consumers experiencing problems with the recall or repair process can call the attorney general's toll-free consumer protection hotline at 1-800-441-2555 or file online consumer complaints at www.attorneygeneral.gov.
Vehicle safety problems also can be reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration by called the toll-free vehicle safety hotline at 888-327-4236 or file an online report at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/.
dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2115
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