Report: Toyota continuing to sell recalled vehicles without a fix

AutoBlog: Report: Toyota continuing to sell recalled vehicles without a fix

Toyota is in the beginning stages of a new voluntary recall that affects 2.3 million vehicles. The recall involves accelerator pedal mechanisms that could stick due to wear and cause unintended acceleration, though it is technically not related to an earlier, larger recall to fix floor mats on certain Toyota and Lexus models that could also cause accelerator pedals to stick.

The folks over at Kicking Tires spoke with National Manager of Environmental Safety and Quality for Toyota, John Hanson, who revealed that vehicles affected by the recall are still sitting on dealer lots for customers to purchase in spite of their potentially defective accelerator pedal mechanisms.

Hanson said the reason that Toyota is letting dealers still sell the vehicles even though they may have to come back in for repair is because the problem tends to appear after extended wear. However, since Toyota doesn't yet have a fix figured out, dealers can reportedly only replace the defective pedal mechanisms with new mechanisms of the same type for now. Hanson is also reportedly unsure about whether or not the vehicles affected by the recall are still being manufactured, but said he thought the lines involved were down.

While it is within the law for Toyota to keep affected vehicles on the lot given the fact that the recall is voluntary, we hope its dealers have enough scruples to inform potential customers about the issue before these vehicles are purchased.