LOS ANGELES - Toyota Motor Corp., spurred by criticism that previous recalls failed to prompt enough owners to seek fixes, hopes to distribute mailings this week to the 2.3 million owners targeted in a January recall, reported Automotive News.
Toyota says it will be vigilant in reaching each of the affected customers and hopes to have all repairs done within 90 days.
The goal was outlined as the automaker detailed its strategy for eliminating the possibility of unintended acceleration in the eight Toyota-brand models that were the focus of a Jan. 21 recall.
One allegation in a lawsuit filed against Toyota last June in Los Angeles over broken steering rods was that Toyota was lax in notifying nearly 1 million owners targeted in an October 2005 recall. By Dec. 31, 2006, fewer than a third of 977,839 recalled vehicles had been inspected and repaired, according to documents from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reviewed by Automotive News.
Plaintiffs claim the defect caused at least four deaths and several injuries.
“When you do these mailings, some customers react and some don't,” said Bob Waltz, vice president of product, quality and service support for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. He said the company won't stop at one mailing.
“We will do multiple mailings,” he said in a conference call today with reporters. “In this campaign we will aim for as high a complete rate as we can. We will aim for 100 percent.”