Customers filled the waiting room at Capital Toyota on Monday as the dealership's 14 service workers attempted to keep up with recalled vehicles.
With multiple recalls under way, some vehicles can be fixed in 30 minutes, while others take hours, repair technician David Kitchens said.
Charles Poore brought his Toyota Tundra in for a recall repair, but hadn't experienced any problems with his vehicle.
-
Staff Photo by Angela Lewis/Chattanooga Times Free Press Rick Shelton reshapes a gas pedal for a Camry at Capital Toyota on Monday afternoon. The dealership has been servicing many cars each day to handle the recent recall on several Toyota models.
"Toyota has less problems than Ford, Chrysler, Chevy and GM," said Mr. Poore. "Every car manufacturer has got issues."
Mr. Poore is confident that despite the negative publicity, Toyotas are still a better value competitors' vehicles.
"Toyota is a quality car; you can drive it 200,000 miles without a thing happening. If something happened to mine today, I'd buy another," Mr. Poore said.
At the same time, technicians focused on their recall repairs.
"I've never been involved with a campaign like this, and I've been in the business for 15 years," said Mr. Kitchens, who gives a free oil change to drivers of recalled vehicles. "They're sending the recall notifications in waves, so we've got mostly Camrys in here, the next wave will be Avalons."
Depending on the type of vehicle involved, a repair may involve removing part of the accelerator pedal to prevent it from getting stuck, installing a tiny piece of steel, or modifying the floor mat to allow more room between the floor and the accelerator pedal, Mr. Kitchens said.
Keeping track of which car needs which repairs is handled by computer to reduce error.
"We'll all be doing this all day, and we have to work in the other customer work as well," Mr. Kitchens said.
On Saturday, the service team worked until 7 p.m. to meet recall-driven demand, service employee Steve Harvey said. He also reported that they were modifying, or flashing, vehicle computers to ensure that the brake pedal will overpower the accelerator, and stop the car's acceleration if the brake is forcefully applied for several seconds.
Capital Toyota operations manager Gene McGee said the dealership could still sell new recalled models, provided buyers are willing to wait for their new car to be repaired prior to taking possession.
"If you want a Tundra, we'll do a fix on the Tundra if there's a campaign on the vehicle," said Mr. McGee. "We're still selling cars."
"I've been here a long time," Mr. McGee said. "Toyota will overcome this."
Ellis Smith joined the Chattanooga Times Free Press in January 2010 as a business reporter. His beat includes the flooring industry, Chattem, Unum, Krystal, the automobile market, real estate and technology. Ellis is from Marietta, Ga., and has a bachelor’s degree in mass communication at the University of West Georgia. He previously worked at UTV-13 News, Carrollton, Ga., as a producer; at the The West Georgian, Carrollton, Ga., as editor; and at the Times-Georgian, Carrollton, ...
I heard on the radio last night that nationwide there are many new car dealers who will not consider a Toyota trade-in.
"Toyota has less problems than Ford, Chrysler, Chevy and GM," said Mr. Poore. "Every car manufacturer has got issues."
Last I saw, there weren't any of those other manufacturers having issues with cars accelerating out of control.
Remember resale on the old Audi 5000? I wouldn't buy a Toyota at any price. It could be years before this mess is straightened out.
Rental car companies have stopped renting them, car auctions have stopped selling them, and resale is dropping daily.
Can the auto industry sink any lower? No offense but I can't believe anyone is crazy enough to buy a new cars from a dealer right now in this economy. Considering that a healthy chunk of 2010 Cash 4 Clunkers cars have already been repossessed (i.e. repofinder.com) why not just go to local banks and credit unions and buy these repo cars back for half the retail price? If you're going to buy junk at least don't over pay.
I like how this piece has been redacted on TFP's website. Why did the TFP remove the following from the web version? In this context, while driving a car, you push the brakes, not the breaks.
" Greg Johnson arrived at Capital Toyota on Lee Highway on Monday to fix his new 2010 Camry and what he said was a malfunctioning cruise control.
"The cruise control locked up on me," said Mr. Johnson. "I pushed the button, it wouldn't kick out; I pushed the breaks, it wouldn't kick out; I finally turned the key off, and that did it."
Mr. Johnson, who said the car otherwise runs well and has a pleasant ride, believes the primary culprit is digital, not mechanical.
"I don't think they know what's wrong. That pedal wasn't stuck on anything, it was the computer that messed up," he said."
Or login with:
New Account