Recall stalls Toyota vendor

More than half of the cars at South Coast Toyota Scion cannot be sold because of Toyota Motor Corp.’s decision this week to halt sales and production of eight models.

But Paul Lunsford, vice president and general manager of the Costa Mesa dealership, which is part of the David Wilson Automotive Group, defended Toyota’s reputation Thursday, saying the auto manufacturer is a responsible company that takes care of its customers and is doing the right thing.

“It’s an obvious handicap when a percentage of your inventory can’t be sold, but we’re dealing with it by taking care of our customers,” Lunsford said. “I’m happy Toyota is reacting fast. Toyota has moved right to the fore and is going to take care of the issue.”

On Tuesday, Toyota Motor Corp. halted the selling and manufacturing of eight of its models, including the Camry and Corolla, because of gas pedals getting stuck and causing runaway acceleration. Toyota has also recalled 2.3 million cars and trucks.

The company had recalled 4.3 million of its vehicles a few months ago, because the floor mats could become attached to the gas pedal and also cause acceleration.

Lunsford said 250 of the 450 cars on the lot cannot be sold, which include the 2009 and 2010 RAV 4; 2009 and 2010 Corolla and Matrix; 2005 to 2010 Avalon; some 2007 to 2010 Camrys; the 2010 Highlander; the 2007 to 2010 Tundra; and 2008 to 2010 Sequoia.

Although South Coast Toyota still has 200 cars on sale from nine other Toyota models, including the Camry Hybrid, the Camry and Corolla models represent 40% to 50% of the sales, Lunsford said.

“This hasn’t been a terrific year and a half for the automotive business, and this is a bump in the road that I would rather we’ve not come across,” Lunsford said.

Lunsford did not know exactly how many local customers are affected by the recall. He said the company is sending out notifications and gathering the numbers for each area.

Since the announcement, Lunsford said his dealership received about 100 calls from concerned customers.

The first priority is to check whether the car’s gas pedal is defective, and checking where the vehicle was made. Gas pedals in vehicles made outside the United States are not affected, he said.

Lunsford said the company has already figured out the problem and obtained the new part, but is waiting for approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The dealership will replace the part for free once the administration approves it.

Calls placed to the administration were not returned Thursday.

South Coast Toyota brings about $1 million in sales tax to Costa Mesa, Lunsford said.

General Motors and other car companies are taking advantage of Toyota’s downfall, including a deal by South Coast Auto Plaza that gives customers a special rebate for trading in their Toyotas for new GM models, said Mike Marin, the auto plaza’s general manager.

“I find it ironic that General Motors and Ford are going to turn their nose down on Toyota,” Lunsford said. “These guys invented the term recall.”