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Vol. 179, Number 268© 2010Detroit Free Press Inc.Printed in the U.S.

WASHINGTON — In an unprecedented moveby an automaker in the U.S., Toyota said Tuesdayit was halting sales and production of eight carand truck models accounting for more than halfits U.S. sales until it finds a fix for sticking accel-erator pedals.

The decision, which will cut production for atleast a week at six Toyota assembly plants inNorth America, comes six days after the Japa-nese automaker announced the recall of 2.3 mil-lion vehicles because of the accelerator problemit first encountered in 2007.

The models, including the Toyota Camry, thetop-selling car in the U.S., accounted for 58% ofToyota’s U.S. sales last year.

The decision could mar a quality reputationToyota used to become the world’s largest auto-

maker. But the automaker has some of the indus-try’s most loyal customers, and experts said itwasn’t immediately clear whether the DetroitThree or foreign automakers would benefit fromToyota’s problem.

Between the accelerator pedal recall and anearlier one involving the floor mats, Toyota hascalled back 4.8 million vehicles to fix defects thatcould lead to sudden acceleration. Safety advo-cates say the problems are linked to 19 deaths andmore than 2,000 complaints.

Toyota says the problem is rare, but it hasn’tdetermined what conditions cause sticking ped-als. Toyota launched a Web site last week givingconsumers advice on how to stop their vehicles ifa pedal sticks, including shifting into neutral andshutting off the engine.� HALT TO SALES IS LATEST DECISION IN ONGOING CONCERNFOR AUTOMAKER. 13A

TOYOTA’SSHOCKER

RECALL: Pedal flaw continues to trouble automaker

WASHINGTON — Key senatorskept pressuring the Obama adminis-tration Tuesday to hand bombingsuspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutal-lab over to military interrogators,while criticism mounted over the de-cision to charge him in federal court.

“To me, this is outrageous,” saidSenate Homeland Security Chair-man Joe Lieberman.

Lieberman said the 23-year-oldNigerian charged with trying to blowup Detroit-bound Flight 253 on Dec.25 is a man “who I think we can fairlydescribe as a soldier in al-Qaida.”

Lieberman and other members ofCongress say Abdulmutallabstopped talking to investigators af-ter he was read his rights as a crimi-nal defendant.

A law enforcement source toldthe Free Press that Abdulmutallabwas charged on Dec. 25 after discus-sions with intelligence officials — in-cluding agencies whose heads told aSenate committee last week theyweren’t consulted.

A Homeland Security official saidthe Justice Department had madeits decision before those conversa-tions.� CONGRESS CHALLENGES CHARGING. 2A

Hand Flight 253 suspect overto the military, senators sayBy TODD SPANGLERFREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

Michigan is poised to join agrowing list of states prohibit-ing text messaging by motor-ists.

The state Senate approveda texting ban on Tuesday simi-lar to one earlier adopted bythe House. If the two cham-bers work out minor differenc-es, Gov. Jennifer Granholmsaid she will sign the bill.

The biggest issue at theCapitol in discussions on text-ing-while-driving has beenabout whether police shouldbe authorized to stop driversfor that offense alone.

On Tuesday, the Senatejoined the House in saying no.

At least for now, you’ll haveto attract an officer’s atten-tion in another way. Perhapsby rear-ending the car in frontof you while gazing intently atyour lap.

An amendment to maketexting behind the wheel a pri-mary offense failed 18-18.

Utica Police Chief MichaelReaves said anytime a driver’shands are off the steeringwheel, people are at risk.

He said he sees no differ-ence between texting and oth-er dangerous behind-the-wheel activities. He said he

thinks texting should be a pull-over offense.

Eric Keiser, a corporal withthe Eastpointe Police Depart-ment, said he has ticketeddrivers for texting and it hasheld up in the city’s 38th Dis-trict Court as reckless driving.

He said it’s hard to tellwhether someone is placing aphone call, sending a text orotherwise fiddling with some-thing out of view.

“If there’s an accident, howare we going to know unlesssomeone comes right out tosay, ‘I was texting,’ ” he said.� CONTACT DAWSON BELL: 517-372-8661 OR DBELL@FREEPRESS.COM

Mich. motorists a step closer to texting banBy AMBER HUNT and DAWSON BELLFREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

iStock photo

ALEX BRANDON/Associated Press

STATE OF UNIONMichigandersexpress theirconcerns withspeech tonightNATION+WORLD, 8A

STEPHENHENDERSONObama shouldmake tax cutpart of agendaOPINION, 11A

RIDDLE TRIALWitnesses talkabout payments,being pressured METRO, 3A

SALES HALTED ON 8 MODELS

SHUTDOWN: Largest ever in U.S. could last a week

By JUSTIN HYDEFREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

TOM WALSH: Slamming on salesbrakes proves Toyota’s fallible, too. 13A

THE 8 RECALLEDMODELS

Certain 2007-10Camrys

2008-10 Sequoia

2009-10 Corolla

2007-10 Tundra

2009-10 RAV4

2005-10 Avalon

2010 Highlander

2009-10 Matrix

Contact usDelivery questions: 800-395-3300News tip hotline: 313-222-6600Classified: 586-977-7500; 800-926-8237

WASHINGTON — Toyotawas still working through theconsequences of its decisionTuesday to halt the sale of eightof its most popular vehicles inthe United States as it strug-gles with complaints of suddenand uncontrolled accelerationin its vehicles.

While the shutdown ofplants is scheduled to last onlyone week, Toyota does not yethave a fix for the flaw, andwould have to repair all of thevehicles on dealers’ lots beforeit could put them back on sale, aprocess that could take longer.

Toyota spokesman BrianLyons said the problem wasrare, and that Toyota was act-ing from an abundance of cau-tion by halting sales. Lyons saidcustomer complaints and Toy-ota research show the pedals,and would likely affect only old-er models.

The models, ranging fromthe Corolla sedan to Tundrapickup, accounted for 10% ofU.S. auto sales last year, ac-cording to Autodata Corp.With thousands of customersready to buy a recalled modelbeing put on indefinite hold,Toyota and its dealers faced anunusual job of pleading fortime.

Gary Dilts, senior vice presi-dent of global automotive oper-ations for J.D. Power and Asso-ciates, said Toyota has some ofthe most devoted ownersamong automakers, with manyon their third or fourth model,and that competitors wouldhave a hard time peeling manybuyers away.

“It’s not like any other car

company that gets caught withthis problem,” Dilts said.

Toyota’s move adds anotherchapter to a growing history ofsudden or unintended acceler-ation problems for the compa-ny.

In a letter to the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Admin-istration last week, Toyota saidconsumers first began com-plaining about sticking acceler-ator pedals in Tundra pickupsin March 2007. After testing apart of the pedal and findingthat it could swell in humid con-ditions, Toyota changed thematerial used in the part inFebruary 2008, but deemed theproblem a “drivability issue un-related to safety.”

Then in December 2008,

Toyota said it began receivingsimilar complaints from cars inEurope. It ran a second set oftests in March 2009, and foundthe same part made with thenew material could wear overtime and cause a pedal to stick.Once again, Toyota madechanges to the pedal and didnot issue a recall.

Finally, in October 2009, the

automaker said it began receiv-ing more reports of sticking ac-celerator pedals in the UnitedStates and Canada, with partssimilar to the European mod-els. Toyota said it then decidedto do a voluntary recall of allpedals, including those fromthe 2007-08 Tundra investiga-tion.

Safety advocates maintainthat Toyota has downplayedsigns of widespread problemswith unintended accelerationin its vehicles dating to 2003,and has yet to fully explain evi-dence suggesting electricalproblems with the vehicles.Many of the models use drive-by-wire systems, which controlthe engine’s throttle by a com-puter link with the pedal rather

than a physical connection.The NHTSA investigated

the Tundra in 2007 for suddenacceleration, but closed thecase in September 2008 withno recall after failing to find amechanical flaw. Toyota alsohad argued that many of thecomplaints were “inspired bypublicity,” and no flaws hadbeen found in the truck.

Toyota spokesman MikeGoss said production would behalted for one week startingMonday on assembly lines atsix Toyota plants in NorthAmerica, including the Ken-tucky line where Toyota buildsthe Camry, the nation’s top-selling car.

The shutdown also will af-fect at least two Toyota engine-supply plants in Alabama andWest Virginia, along with anunknown number of otherplants. It wasn’t clear how ma-ny workers would be affected;Toyota paid assembly workersduring plant shutdowns lastyear.

Goss said the shutdown wasscheduled for only one week at

the moment, but he could notsay whether Toyota would ex-tend the stoppage if it did nothave a fix by the end of thatweek.

While stop-sale orders arenot unheard of in the auto in-dustry, most involve a far-smaller number of vehicles.Ford never ordered sales tostop during the Firestone tirerecall on Ford Explorers in1999, but did halt productionfor a few weeks to boost thesupply of replacement tires.

Toyota’s recall also includesthe 2009-10 models of the Pon-tiac Vibe, which Toyota builtfor General Motors at theclosed GM-Toyota joint plant inFremont, Calif. GM spokesmanAlan Adler said GM could notcomment on Toyota’s stop-saleorder, and did not know howmany Vibes were left on dealerlots.

There’s been no evidenceyet that the previous recall hadsullied Toyota’s sterling repu-tation with consumers; Con-sumer Reports said its recentsurveys found the automakerstill had the highest brandranking among all competitors.

Abimbola Esan, 33, of East-pointe owns a Toyota Yaris,and said he thought Toyota’smove was disturbing — butadded that it hasn’t shaken hisconfidence in the automaker.

“I feel they will learn fromthis experience,” Esan said.

Toyota owners with questions areadvised to go to www.toyota.comor call 800-331-4431.

� CONTACT JUSTIN HYDE: 202-906-8204 ORJHYDE@FREEPRESS.COM JEWEL GOPWANICONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.

Toyota’s halt to sales is latest setbackAUTOMAKER DOESN’T HAVE FIX FOR SUDDEN ACCELERATION PROBLEM YET

2006 photo by ERIC GAY/Associated Press

A Toyota Tundra is inspected during the final assembly stages at the Toyota plant in San Antonio. Toyota saidconsumers first began complaining about sticking accelerator pedals in Tundra pickups in March 2007.

� WEDNESDAY, JAN. 27, 2010 WWW.FREEP.COM 13A

x x

TOYOTA’S SHOCKER�COVER STORY

As the sports announcer forthe New Orleans Saints

crowed Sunday after the foot-ball team won its first trip tothe Super Bowl, pigs do flyand hell has frozen over.

Tuesday’s news that Toyo-ta has halted production andsales of eight — count ’em,eight — car and truck modelsin the U.S., because of con-cerns over unintended accel-eration, evokes a similar re-action.

Toyota?The world leader in sales,

quality and vehicle reliability?The benchmark that every

global automaker has tried toemulate in recent years —and yes, that in-cludes GeneralMotors, Ford,Volkswagen andHyundai?

Yes, Toyota isfallible. Scared,even. Otherwisethe companywould not havetaken the unprec-edented steps of recalling 2.3million vehicles and thenhalting production.

My first reaction to thefloor-mat issue with Toyotas,months ago, was one of cau-tion, recalling how the Audibrand was tainted in the1980s by claims of unintendedacceleration, for which a me-chanical defect was neverproved to be responsible.

But obviously, Toyota’sheadlong expansion over thelast decade has created someproblems for the company,and it’s hard to imagine thatits leaders would actuallyslam the brakes on eight mod-els unless they realized thatthere is a serious problemthat needs to be addressed.

“This is a pretty drasticstep. Their hand was forced.

They need to get this problemcleaned up, or it will hangover their head for the rest ofthe year,” said Peter De Lo-renzo, founder of Auto-extremist.com and an in-dustry marketing veteran.

Oh, and De Lorenzo, is alsothe author of the book, “The

United States ofToyota: How De-troit SquanderedIts Legacy andEnabled Toyota toBecome America’sCar Company”(Inkwater Press,2007).

“It’s an amaz-ing step,” De Lo-

renzo said of Tuesday’s move,noting that the company’sinvestigation must have in-dicated that a mechanicalissue — either within Toyotaor at a supplier — is involved.

In Detroit, where thehometown car companieshave taken plenty of abuseover the years — some war-ranted, some not — the smartreaction to Toyota’s traumawould be TO AVOID ANYGLOATING. Never, ever, givethe other team some smart-alecky criticism to post on thebulletin board.

That said, promoting anyand all safety or qualityawards would be perfectlypermissible for Ford, GM orChrysler. � CONTACT TOM WALSH: 313-223-4430 ORTWALSH@FREEPRESS.COM

Yes, it’s shocking,but it’s true: Toyotacan be fallible, too

PROBLEM MUST BE MAJORFOR COMPANY TO SLAM ON BRAKES, TOM WALSH SAYS

THE DETROIT 3 HAVE

TAKEN PLENTY OF

ABUSE OVER THE

YEARS, BUT IT’S NOT

WISE TO GLOAT.

Models popular in U.S.Last year, Toyota sold more

than 1 million of the models ithas told dealers to stop selling.

The vehicles made up 58% ofthe total number of vehiclesToyota sold in the U.S. lastyear, and 10% of light vehiclessold in the U.S. in 2009.

Toyota dealers face beingunable to sell popular cars forat least the next several weeks,a prospect one dealer calleddevastating.

“I am reminded of the Tyle-nol scandal of 20 or so yearsago,” Gordon Stewart, presi-dent of Harper Woods-basedStewart Management Groupand owner of a Toyota dealer-ship in Hoover, Ala., said short-ly after learning that Toyotahas asked its dealers to stopselling eight models coveredby a recall for a problem withthe acceleration pedals.

“It is devastating to a deal-ership to freeze not just yournew car inventory but the usedcar inventory as well,” Stewartsaid.

Toyota announced lastweek it was recalling 2.3 mil-lion cars and trucks because ofaccelerator pedals that couldfail to spring back. That recallraised the total number of Toy-ota models called back for pos-sible uncontrolled acceleration

to 4.8 million.On Tuesday, Toyota an-

nounced that it has told deal-ers to stop selling many of itsnew vehicles — including thepopular Camry midsize sedanand the Corolla compact car.

“Toyota is very, very cau-tious,” said Rick Hodges, gen-eral manager of Victory Toyo-ta in Canton. “It just goes toshow you how importantbrand loyalty is to them.”

Tim Hoffman of Des Moineshas become increasingly con-cerned about the Toyota Cam-ry he bought recently.

“When I got the letter about

the recall, I thought, well, nowhere’s a hassle. — but now I’mgetting pretty concerned — Imean, stopping sales? … I lovethe car, but this is worrisome;hate to be cynical, and I’m cer-tainly no conspiracy nut, but Ican’t help but wonder if they’renot telling us something?” hesaid by e-mail.

Sammit Sabharwal, 30, ofNorthville said he didn’t ex-pect Toyota to have quality is-sues. Sabharwal drives a Prius,which is not covered by the re-call.

Growing up, he had the im-pression that vehicles from

American car companiesbroke down more often. Butwith Toyota halting so manymodels, he said, “any car man-ufacturer can have issues.”

Stewart said one of his con-cerns is that the methods thatToyota has proposed to fix theacceleration problems haveyet to be approved by the Na-tional Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration. What’s more,it’s unknown how long it willtake for the agency to concludeits review process.

“If you take the vehicle salesout of the dealership, it’s apretty expensive situation forthe dealers,” Stewart said.

Bob Page, owner of PageToyota of Southfield, said heagrees that the company needsto take the acceleration pedalissue seriously, but believesthe company is overreacting.

“It’s disappointing becauseI think we can deal with it,”Page said.

He said Toyota dealers willsoon have the equipment nec-essary to fix the brake pedalsand to electronically reset thethrottles to prevent the accel-eration issue.

� CONTACT BRENT SNAVELY: 313-222-6512OR BSNAVELY@FREEPRESS.COM. STAFFWRITERS JEWEL GOPWANI AND KATHERINEYUNG CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.

ReactionsCustomer concern grows over recallsDealers get ready totackle the possibletroubles aheadBy BRENT SNAVELYFREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

2003 photo by SYLWIA KAPUSCINSKI/Detroit Free Press

Toyota announced Tuesday that production would be halted for oneweek starting Monday at its flagship plant in Georgetown, Ky.

If you own one of the mod-els covered by Toyota’s larg-est-ever recall, contact yourdealer if you haven’t already.

Toyota advised in Novem-ber that owners remove driv-er’s-side floor mats on somemodels; it said the matscaused some reported uncon-trolled acceleration when theybecame trapped between adriver’s foot and the gas pedal.But the problem appears to bemore complex than that.

At the beginning of 2010,Toyota dealers began cuttingabout an inch off the loweredge of gas pedals and adjust-ed the width, a spokesmansaid. Replacement pedals willbe available in April.

In a more technical ap-proach to the problem on 2007through 2010 Camrys, Ava-lons and certain Lexus mod-els, dealers are installing abrake override system. Thepurpose of that change is toprevent the accelerator pedalfrom cancelling out the brake

if the car surges without pres-sure from the driver’s foot.Toyota said in November thebrake override system wouldbe standard on all models bythe end of 2010.

“If some type of accelera-tion does occur, the ownershould apply the brakes, takethe vehicle to a safe locationand contact a dealer,” Toyotaspokesman Mike Michels said.

Toyota will continue to in-stall the brake override sys-tems on all 2010 models, Mi-chels said.

“We’re working as fast aswe can to find a solution that iseffective,” Michels said.

Getting to the root cause iscritical for Toyota because therecalled models accounted formore than half of the Toyotadivision’s U.S. sales last year.

“The breadth of this is un-precedented,” said MichelleKrebs, an auto analyst withEdmunds.com. “People are re-lating experiences that theyeither think are unintendedacceleration or makes themworry that it could happen.”

What should owners do?Ask dealers for details on Toyota’s recallBy GREG GARDNERFREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

By JUSTIN HYDEFREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

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