Right Charles and Toyota is going to be shelling out boatloads of moola to fix this mess. I wonder how the cost would compare to having the gas pedal assembly manufactured in Canada/US/Japan et al in the first place. And the monetary cost is just the beginning, what's this going to do with their hard earned reputation.
The pedal assembly was made by CTS, which has facilities in the US, Europe, and Japan. I didn't see anything indicating it was China that was at fault.
In fact, there's a comment by CTS that says it was a design flaw, not a manufacturing one.
"CTS stated that since the problem of sudden unintended acceleration has been reported to have existed in some Lexus vehicles and Toyota vehicles going back to 1999 when CTS did not even make this product for any customer, CTS believes that the rare slow return pedal phenomenon, which may occur in extreme environmental conditions, should absolutely not be linked with any sudden unintended acceleration incidents. CTS is also not aware of any accidents and injuries caused by the rare slow return pedal condition, to the best of its knowledge. CTS wishes to clarify that it does not, and has never made, any accelerator pedals for Lexus vehicles and that CTS also has no accelerator pedals in Toyota vehicles prior to model year 2005.
“We are disappointed that, despite these facts, CTS accelerator pedals have been frequently associated with the sudden unintended acceleration problems and incidents in various media reports,” said Dennis Thornton, CTS Vice President and General Manager of Automotive Products Group. Toyota itself has also publically stated that this recall is separate from the earlier recalls which were done to remedy sudden acceleration in vehicles."
