Toyota's acceleration issue 'not a simple problem'

Toyota's decision to halt sales of eight models of its vehicles in Canada and the United States over the risk of sudden acceleration is "unprecedented" and will likely take more than a week to sort out, says used-car guru Phil Edmonston.

Toyota announced Tuesday it would suspend sales and production of the eight models for a week while it moves to fix accelerator pedals that are suspected of sticking.

"They had to take a bold move in order to restore confidence," Edmonston said in an interview Wednesday with CBC News. "This is exceptional. It's very rarely been done, and for Toyota it is a serious problem for their image."

This is the automaker's third action concerning the issue of sudden and unintended acceleration in certain models.

In August, Toyota recalled 4.2 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles, saying the floormats could jam the gas pedal. That move came after a family of four in California died when their car suddenly accelerated to more than 200 km/h and crashed.

Last week, Toyota issued a recall of 2.3 million vehicles to correct sticking accelerator pedals on certain models. This action was separate from the ongoing recall involving floor mats, but about 1.7 million vehicles were subject to both recalls.

Toyota spokesperson Sandy DeFelice told CBC News the decision to stop production and sales was "easy" to make, as the automaker wanted to "make sure that we had adequate parts to meet the needs of those customers who were coming in to the dealership and asking for review and pedal replacement."

Edmonston said the production halt could last longer than one week.

"How long will it take for this to be investigated? It could be several weeks. It could be several months, but it's not going to be several days," he said. "This is not a simple problem."

Pedal questions

According to media reports, issues around unintended acceleration have dogged Toyota since 2002, when in some models it replaced the mechanical accelerator linkage with an electronic system that uses sensors to indicate the position of the pedal.

An investigation by the Los Angeles Times in November suggested that sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles may have been linked to more deaths than previously thought and that Toyota has received thousands of complaints about the issue.

Toyota vigorously denied the problems relate to its use of electronics in the acceleration control system, and it responded to the newspaper's report by stating on Dec. 23 that it was "outraged by the Times' attack."

Toyota said in a separate news release that during the past six years the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has undertaken an "exhaustive review of allegations of unintended acceleration on Toyota and Lexus vehicles and six times the agency closed the investigation without finding any electronic engine control system malfunction to be the cause of unintended acceleration."

Edmonston predicted a "rush to the service bay" by owners wanting to have their vehicles inspected — and a rush to lawyers, too.

"I suspect the next wave is probably going to be compensation. This is going to be a liability lawyer's dream because they (Toyota) have admitted that the problem exists, and it started six years ago, with the U.S. government investigating. We'll see a number of class-action lawsuits."