Thanks for your comments. I completely agree.

Dale

Thanks for the background and critical information.

Dale

You may remember in the mid 60's, Toyota Americanized the Japanese Tiara & renamed it the Corona. The Corona was test-marketed in Southern California, and in 1965, Toyota finally branched out to the sleepy little town in Kentucky where I still live. (Pop 1,400) (not 140,000 or 14,000, yes 1,400) Following is a story told to me many years ago by one of the original Kentucky Toyota salesmen, Harry Johns, and is retold here as accurately as I rememeber.

Toyota approached the local Chrysler Plymouth Dodge dealership with a plan; allow us to park 2 Coronas on your lot, no floor plan, no interest, you try to sell them, and if you do, pay us our cost. The dealer agreed, (it was hard not to, even though the local Chevrolet & Ford dealerships passed on the same deal) and for about 6 months, the vehicles sat there until a nice blustery winter's day when a young lady stopped in & wanted to test drive one. It wouldn't turn-over, and after the salesperson explained to the customer that this is normal, someone must have left the door ajar, and hooked up the old jumper cables, it still wouldn't turn over. A call was made to Toyota about the problem & the next day, someone from Toyota showed up with new batteries, starters, & alternators. He crawled under the 2 cars in 3 inches of snow, replaced the equipment, and hence the famous option known simply as CK in the Toyota World was born. “The Cold Weather Package.” To this day, every car built for the U.S. market has the CK option, and even though it's listed as an option, (standard on some models) you can't get one in the U.S. without it. The Tiara was created for the milder Japanese climate, and test-marketed as the Corona in the milder California climate. The battery, starter, & alternator were just not strong enough to crank the engine in colder climates. Toyota acted quickly & made a change that is still reflected on the Monroney label 45 years later.

I spoke to a friend of mine, Gary McDaniel of Kerry Toyota today & he tells me it's business as usual. Gary tells me that they can still sell the 8 affected models as long as they don't have the defective part, and that the defective part is on about 60% to 70% of those models, meaning 30% to 40% are still available for retail sale. If the vehicle is one of the 8 affected, and the VIN starts with JT, meaning it is made in Japan, everything is fine & it can be sold. If the VIN begins with any of the North American numbers, such as 1, 2, 4, or 5, and it's not a Camry, it has the defective part & cannot be sold. If it is a Camry, and the VIN begins with 4T4, it has the defective part. If the Camry's VIN begins with 4T1, the pedal assembly needs to be inspected. A simple inspection if the accelerator pedal with a flashlight will tell you if the vehicle can be sold or not. There's a small metal tag that will either say “Denso” or “CTS,”, and if it's Denso, all is good, but if it's CTS, the vehicle must not be sold.

I spoke to another friend, Mark Howard who works at the Georgetown KY plant, TMMK, and he tells me they are shutting down Line 1 the week of Feb. 1st, but Line 2 is still producing with non CTS pedal assemblies. I heard from another source that the employees on Line 1 are given the choice of taking the week off without pay, taking the week off with vacation pay, or reporting for work as usual, where they will be temporarily assigned to other jobs & tasks.

I believe Toyota will get through this just fine, with the biggest issue being public opinion stemming from how the media reports on this recall.

Although having to deal with this adversity isn’t my first choice, it’s always these experiences that help us grow as leaders. Toyota’s commitment to safety is evident in the fact that this is a voluntary action, I wonder what kind of press the other manufacturers who use these same components will get when it comes to light that they have no such course of action.

Just to keep this comment on topic…. We will remain active Toyota Certified Used Vehicle players as well, continuing to buy and sell in today’s market.

I'd ask for a “good luck” but we've got a good plan,
Craig