Jim Lentz, Toyota’s president and COO sales, continued his national media blitz with a visit to Fox Business Network. Lentz detailed to the network that resolving the pedal acceleration issue will be โmeasured in months not weeksโ and non-recalled models are โdoing quite well.โ
Here areย few excerpts and a video from the Fox Business Network interview:
On a timeline to solve the safety issues:
โI think itโs going to be measured in months not weeks. I canโt tell you exactly how much. At the end of this week, weโll have a much better idea.โ
On recalling the pedal now after months of complaints:
โInitially, we concentrated on the floor mat. In hindsight, it was more about the pedal. We didnโt really understand how customers use floor mats. We didnโt have enough clearance under our pedals.โ
โWe actually acted quite quickly on that. From October of last year to today, we investigated it, we found a solution, and we implemented a solutionโฆ.thatโs 90 days; thatโs pretty quick.”
On the pedal manufacturer feeling like the scapegoat:
โWeโre not blaming the pedal manufacture. Itโs our responsibility; we are going to take care of the customers. Weโll figure out why it happened down the road.โ
Watch the latest business video at video.foxbusiness.com
Article Last Updated: February 1, 2010.