'Toyota dealers working hard to restore customer confidence'

Japanese auto maker Toyota, currently in a damage control mode over its vehicle recalls, today said its dealers are working round the clock to "restore trust and confidence of our customers".

Toyota's global image took a beating when over eight million Toyota vehicles were recalled worldwide to fix faulty accelerator pedals and brakes.

At the Chicago Auto show here, Bob Carter, General Manager of the Toyota division at Toyota Motor Sales (US) told reporters that the company's dealers are extending service hours, adding more weekend services and using offsite facilities to expedite the process of repairing millions of its cars recalled globally.

"The effort we are seeing from our dealers is really paying off. In only a few days, our dealers have re-enforced accelerator pedals on more than 2,20,000 vehicles and are now running at about 50,000 vehicles a day in repair," he said.

Carter added that the company had identified the problem with accelerator pedals and the "solution is very simple. It can be done at your Toyota dealer in 30 minutes" adding that he was "very confident" of the fixes Toyota plans for the accelerator pedals.

He added that the firm still has up to 70,000 vehicles stranded with dealer lots due to defective accelerator pedals.

The vehicle recall forced Toyota to stop selling some of its best-selling vehicles in late January, a move which affected about 60 per cent of the 210,000 vehicles in dealer stock, or about 120,000 cars and light trucks, Carter added.