AliciaStrusa22510

=Toyota Troubles: Recalling Vehicles=

By: Alicia Strusa strusaa@students.nescom.edu

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 * BREWER** - Ima gine if you were a teenager being forced to attend a family get-together the day after you totaled your parents' car for doing something stupid. If you think that’s uncomfortable, now imagine you did that to around eight million cars. You'll have some understanding of just how te nse the room will be when Toyota president Akio Toyoda makes the rounds statewide.

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CNN.com reported that Toyota was facing more unwanted publicity this weekend after the world's biggest automaker said it was voluntarily calling in about 10,000 pickups in North America, the latest in a series of recalls.=====

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The New York Times found that global Toyota recalls covered models with "sticky accelerators" that can cause cars to race out of control, a defect found in several deadly crashes, and later widened to brake system problems in the Prius and other hybrid models.=====

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“A woman filed a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles against Toyota. She blamed the company for the death of her husband when the Prius she was driving suddenly accelerated. This corrupts people’s faith in the company big time,” said Howard Segal, a history professor at the University of Maine, with extensive knowledge on the Toyota company. “The road to recovery won’t be easy after all of these recalls.”=====

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Recently, Toyota announced two safety recalls that cover some of its models. Both recall campaigns address conditions related to the accelerator pedal. The first recall, floor-mat entrapment, deals with the potential for an unsecured or incompatible driver's floor mat to interfere with the accelerator pedal and cause it to get stuck in the wide-open position.=====

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The second recall, the pedal, is being conducted because there is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may mechanically stick in a down position or return slowly to the idle position.=====

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Even though some Toyota models weren’t included in last year's mega-recalls, the company's latest list of vehicles being recalled for stuck-accelerator issues includes Rav4s, Camrys, Highlanders, Corrollas and more.=====

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According to Toyota, the following models are included in the latest recall were the 2009-2010 RAV4, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2007-2010 Camry, 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra, and the 2008-2010 Sequoia.=====

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“These are cars we drive around everyday,” said Russell Macard, a resident of Bangor. “My family and I rely on companies like Toyota to create safe vehicles. We want to feel safe, and this is a big issue.”=====

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To stay safe, do not pump the brakes or worry about the engine—modern vehicles have rev limiters to prevent damage. Some Consumer Reports recommend drivers “immediately move the shift lever to neutral and firmly apply the brakes…after bringing the car to a safe stop, turn off the engine”, if your car begins to accelerate uncontrollably.=====