By Vanessa Overholser - Staff Writer
More than 2 million Toyota vehicles were recalled in January due to defective accelerator pedals, shutting down one local assembly line. Despite this, a Morehead resident who is an employee at Toyota’s Georgetown plant said jobs there are secure.
According to a press release submitted by the Toyota Corporation Feb. 1, the accelerator pedals are sticking due to an excess amount of friction causing vehicles to accelerate in great amounts of speed. Toyota announced it was recalling 2.3 million select Toyota Division vehicles on Jan. 21. The following models identified as being involved in the recall are:
• Certain 2009-2010 RAV4
• Certain 2009-2010 Corolla
• 2009-2010 Matrix
• 2005 Avalon
• Certain 2007-2010 Camry
• Certain 2010 Highlander
• 2007-2010 Tundra
• 2008-2010 Sequoia
“We have two production lines,” said Assistant Manager of Media Relations Rick Hesterberg. “Line one is where the Camrys and Avalons are built. Line two Camry, Camry Hybrid and Venza. Line one is shut down and line two is not. There is a good reason for that. The pedal supplier for line one is different than the pedal supplier for line two. The pedals for line two are not in question and so production continues.”
There are 2,500 assemblers who work on line one. A fraction of the employees are from Rowan County.
“We have 15 team members that live in the Rowan County area,” Hesterberg said. “Fortunately, the recall has not had an impact on any of our team members. We have not had to send anyone home. We have kept everyone working.”
Hesterberg recalled an incident that occurred a year ago when the national economy first collapsed and the auto industry began to suffer.
“We kept our team members working,” he said. “We gave our employees options. They can stay home and take a vacation day and still get their eight hours. They can come in and clean, do maintenance work or they can take the day off without pay. Our doors are always open to our employees so they can still receive their pay.”
The Georgetown plant is the largest in Northern America, Hesterberg said.
“Our plant is on 1,300 acres of land and our facility is the size of 156 football fields,” he said. “We have the capacity to build 500,000 vehicles and engines a year.”
Toyota has great employees, Hesterberg said.
“Our team members have a lot of pride in what they do,” he said. “We have won more JD Power Quality Plant award and that is a tribute to our team members.”
Hesterberg said he did not have the actual number of recalled vehicles built by the Georgetown facility.
The process for notification and repairing vehicles is simple, according to Hesterberg.
“They (consumers) will receive letters from their dealerships and then they can start scheduling time for repairs,” he said. “Repairs can be done relatively quick. The estimated time for repair of each vehicle is 30 minutes. Some dealerships will have extended hours in attempt to service all of our customers.”
The Toyota Corporation plans to do everything it can to satisfy its customers, Hesterberg said.
“We are going to make absolutely sure that our customers can continue to be confident that we stand behind the safety and reliability of our vehicles,” he said.
