The supplier that made the pedal modules blamed for a massive recall of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles, and their subsequent removal from sale at dealers, said today in a conference call with auto industry analysts that it has identified a fix for the problem and is stepping up production at three factories to get new parts to Toyota's plants. The parts maker also is working with Toyota on a fix for cars already on the road, the supplier's CEO said.
Automotive News reports that testing by Toyota and supplier CTS Corp., of Elkhart, Ind., identified condensation-related problems as the cause of the automaker's sticky accelerators, which can cause the gas pedal to return too slowly to its original position or even, with age, to get stuck. CTS's CEO, Vinod Khilnani, said the new pedal now in production solves this problem. “We believe that is the reason for the slow return,” he said.
Khilnani said Toyota and CTS are working to develop a “sleeve” to fix possible problems on Toyota vehicles already on the road. CTS also is building a redesigned pedal that will go to Toyota factories for installation on new cars.