Toyota starts pedal fix

TOYOTA Motor Corporation said Monday that it will start fixing faulty gas pedals this week after mass recalls dented its reputation and prompted competitors to challenge the world's top car maker.

Toyota's US unit said the Japanese company had "developed and rigorously tested" a fix for accelerator pedals in faulty models and had also come up with "an effective solution" for vehicles currently in production.

"The heat's on right now to execute this plan," Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor USA, said in a conference call with reporters. "We know what's causing the sticking accelerator pedals, and we know what we have to do to fix it."

Parts were already being shipped to US dealers, many of whom will be extending their hours in order to speed the repairs of the millions of vehicles affected by the recall. Canadian dealers will also begin repairs this week while European dealers will receive the parts next week, Toyota said.

It was not immediately clear when Toyota would begin to repair recalled vehicles in China.

Toyota pulled up to 1.8 million vehicles in Europe on Friday, the latest in a series of accelerator-related recalls that has affected more than 7.6 million Toyota cars worldwide -- nearly its entire 2009 global sales of 7.8 million vehicles.

Toyota, which overtook General Motors in 2008 as the top-selling automaker, has been beset by a series of safety issues that critics say raise questions about whether it sacrificed its legendary quality to become number one.

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