Toyota Recall Update: Half of UK cars now fixed

Toyota has fixed half of the 180k cars recalled over the sticky throttle problems

Toyota are now half way through the 186,000 cars in the UK which require a fix after the sticky accelerator recall in February.

It seems like forever ago that we revealed the enormous problems Toyota had with a mass worldwide recall on a  chunk of the cars they’ve produced in the last few years, but it’s actually only a little over a month – even less since we reported on the Prius recall. But having reported the negatives about Toyota – deservedly so – it’s only fair to report the positives.

The Toyota Recall for the sticky accelerator affected a rather significant 180,965 cars in the UK alone. And even with the resources of one of the biggest car makers in the world set loose to address the issue, it was not going to be an overnight job to address the fix on so many cars. Which is no doubt why Toyota has made sure that their 200+ dealer network in the UK has thrown all their resources at providing the fix as soon as possible.

So far – just one month in – they’ve fixed over 90,000 cars. Which works out at an average of 450 cars per dealer outlet or 15 cars a day. Which considering that most Toyota dealers are probably fairly booked up on servicing at any given time must have been a pretty tall order.

Toyota are reporting a 96% customer satisfaction with the way the recall has been handled and they’re going out of their way to grovel, apologise and do whatever is needed to restore confidence in the marque. Miguel Fonseca, Toyota GB Managing Director, said:

“Our thanks go to our customers who continue to be supportive and have confidence in the Toyota brand, and to everyone in the Toyota family, from head office to the workshops, who have all worked together to maintain a high level of service quality as we address the challenges of the recall programme.

We would also like to thank the customers that continued to show their confidence in Toyota, leading to a new retail sales share record in February. The Toyota Prius February sales total was comfortably more than double the previous best for the month, further proof that UK motorists have faith in Toyota quality and reliability and acknowledge the real-world benefits delivered by Hybrid Synergy Drive.”

But apologetic or not, he couldn’t resist throwing in a few self-congratulatory bits – and a bit of promo for Toyota. Still, that’s his job, and at least Toyota are getting back to the business of selling cars.

Which is what we all want to see.