AMMAN - The dealer of Toyota Motor Corp. in Jordan said on Wednesday the agency has not received anything from the Japanese automaker regarding a brake problem in Prius hybrid, which is gaining growing popularity in the country.
Nadim Haddad, the marketing and sales manager at the Central Trade and Auto Company (CTAC), Toyota's agent in Jordan, stressed that the company will continue to support any vehicle offered by CTA in the local market.
According to the Associated Press (AP), the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received about 100 complaints involving the brakes of the Prius new model. Two involved crashes resulting in injuries.
Also yesterday, Japan's transport ministry said it has also received 14 complaints since July last year about brake problems with Toyota's new Prius hybrid.
Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said the company has received reports about the Prius complaints in North America and in Japan and was now looking into the matter.
The new Prius gas-electric hybrid, which went on sale in Japan and the US in May 2009, is not part of the recalls that extended to Europe and China, covering nearly 4.5 million vehicles.
Last week, Toyota announced a recall of 2.3 million cars in the US due to fears of a faulty accelerator pedal, the same problem that recently affected over 75,000 Toyota cars in China.
The automaker also pulled up to 1.8 million vehicles in Europe on Friday - as part of a series of recalls that have affected almost eight million Toyota cars worldwide - more than its entire 2009 global sales of 7.8 million vehicles.
CTAC Chairman George Haddad on Wednesday stressed that agency will be ready to fix any Toyota vehicle imported from the US, with a sticky gas pedal, if found in Jordan.
He noted that Toyota cars imported by the agency do not have an accelerator malfunction because they are imported directly from the mother company in Japan, saying that recalled cars were manufactured in US-based factories of Indiana, Texas, Kentucky in addition to a factory in Ontario, Canada.
"Used cars that are bought from the free zone are more likely to have the faulty pedal and the Toyota company is not committed to fix these vehicles once out of the US market," the CTAC chairman said at a press conference held yesterday.
He stated that owners of cars with such a problem, imported from the US and not through the dealership, will have to pay to have their vehicles fixed, adding that no cases have not been reported in the Kingdom so far.
During the past few days, the Central Trade and Auto Company has received many phone calls from people who own Toyota cars to inquire about the problem, according to Haddad.
He explained that vehicles made in Japan are not affected by this recall because the recall-affected pedal is confined to one of Toyota's suppliers in the US and that supplier's pedals are not used in cars manufactured in Japan, from which the dealership imports directly.
Commenting on a question whether the gas pedal problem will affect Toyota sales in the local market, Haddad said the decision of the automobile manufacturer to recall a large number of cars worldwide stressed the company's credibility towards customers and its commitment to public safety and transparency.
According to Toyota's website, the automobile's accelerator pedal recall and suspension of sales is confined to the following Toyota Division vehicles: certain 2009-2010 RAV4, certain 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2005-2010 Avalon, certain 2007-2010 Camry, certain 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra, 2008-2010 Sequoia.
By Omar Obeidat
© Jordan Times 2010
