Toyota halting sales and recalling cars
Simon Constable from Dow Jones is sitting in for John Batchelor of the John Batchelor radio show.
Toyota is halting sales on eight popular models and recalling 4.5 million cars.
This problem has been known for a while, but it really came to light when an Officer in Southern California had sudden acceleration on the phone. Once the 911 phone call came out the problem really came to light.
The fix has not been brought to market yet.
Bloomberg says that dealers will lose $2.47 billion dollars a month with the halt of these sales.
How will Toyota deal with their previous and future customers will be of utmost concern?
General Motors, Ford, Hyundai, and Kia are offering incentives to Toyota customers.
How will this play out for Toyota? In California, Toyota has 25% of the market, followed by Honda and Ford, but watch out for Buick.
Will there be lawsuits? There are about sixteen lawsuits right now and Toyota is working with NHTSA.
Congress has already called for a hearing.
